Demergers (Edexcel A Level Economics A)

Revision Note

Steve Vorster

Written by: Steve Vorster

Reviewed by: Jenna Quinn

Reasons for Demergers

  • A demerger occurs when a firm sells off at least one of the businesses it owns, or splits itself into separate parts to create two or more firms

Reasons For Demergers

Reducing diseconomies of scale

Increased business focus

Cultural differences

Decreasing the size of the firm can reduce the diseconomies and lower the cost/unit which increases the profitability

If efforts and resources are scattered across a large number of firms/ industries it can be hard to maintain focus and profitability. Narrowing the focus can improve profitability

The most common reason for failures of mergers is cultural differences. Sometimes these differences are irreconcilable and not worth the expense to change

Remove loss making divisions

Increase liquidity and dividend payments

Comply with the demands of the competition commission

It can be more profitable to remove loss-making divisions and replace them with outsourcing

Demergers generate extra revenue for the firm in the year they occur. This may increase the profit and dividend payments

Sometimes firms are forced to demerge by the competition regulator due to concerns about the high level of market share they may have, which is considered to be anti-competitive and bad for consumers

Impacts of Demergers on Stakeholders

  • The impacts on the firm conducting the demerger should be mostly positive and include

    • Opportunity for a more narrow focus on the core business

    • Removing loss-making portions of the business

    • Increased efficiency and lower costs/unit

    • Increasing the annual profits for the year that the demerger occurred

    • Removing some difficult cultural differences

  • The impacts on employees include

    • Some workers may lose their jobs

    • Reduced friction from cultural differences can help build better team dynamics

    • Smaller workforce provides more opportunity for promotion

    • Less complication in daily tasks due to more narrow focus

  • The impacts on consumers include

    • If successful, better quality products and customer service

    • If successful, lower prices due to the firms new efficiencies

    • If unsuccessful, a narrower product range and perhaps worse quality/customer service

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Steve Vorster

Author: Steve Vorster

Expertise: Economics & Business Subject Lead

Steve has taught A Level, GCSE, IGCSE Business and Economics - as well as IBDP Economics and Business Management. He is an IBDP Examiner and IGCSE textbook author. His students regularly achieve 90-100% in their final exams. Steve has been the Assistant Head of Sixth Form for a school in Devon, and Head of Economics at the world's largest International school in Singapore. He loves to create resources which speed up student learning and are easily accessible by all.

Jenna Quinn

Author: Jenna Quinn

Expertise: Head of New Subjects

Jenna studied at Cardiff University before training to become a science teacher at the University of Bath specialising in Biology (although she loves teaching all three sciences at GCSE level!). Teaching is her passion, and with 10 years experience teaching across a wide range of specifications – from GCSE and A Level Biology in the UK to IGCSE and IB Biology internationally – she knows what is required to pass those Biology exams.