1.0 Introduction In the popular film "Wall Street", the ruthless investment banker played by Michael Douglas, devotes an ode to "Greed", as part of his speech to the shareholders' meeting of a paper company he aims at acquiring: "The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed, for the like of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works! Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of evolutionary spirit. .. " Even though the aforementioned acquisition deal did eventually fail, in today's economy M&A activity is surging to levels previously unknown. With the exception 1 of the first quarters of 2002 , the last decade has been characterised by unprecedented 2 number of transactions • It appears that "greed" is gaining ground amongst top executives and shareholders. Inasmuch as greed is an integral part of human nature, so is the propensity to grow and develop a part of organisational nature. Greiner (1998:p.66) claims that organisational evolution is not merely a self-implied process, but a "contest for survival". In other words, if organisations are to reach and potentially surpass their average life 3 expectancy range of 20 to 50 years, they need to evolve . Mergers & acquisitions seem to play a primary role in the evolution, and thus survival, of organisations.
