Usually, mergers and acquisitions happen when one company combines its resources with another. Bhattacharyya defines mergers as a mix of organizations which happens when two organizations decide to join forces. Acquisition, on the other hand, is when one company, mostly a bigger one, takes over the management of another smaller company. Mergers and acquisitions mainly occur in developed countries compared to the developing ones. And there are several reasons, according to Brown (2012 p.116), that drive companies to consolidate.
Expanding on the state of consolidation within the veterinary industry is a good place to start to enhance understanding of why lean management could help to sustain such acquisitions. Despite these great benefits and potentials derived out of mergers and acquisitions, there are unique challenges faced in the veterinary industry. Veterinary practitioners have always considered themselves as unique and independent specialists (Gaynor, 2012 p.9). Many hospitals were set up as private practice. They have run their practices privately for the most part, without much influence of the corporate. Such practices may shy away from mergers and acquisitions due to their emotional attachment to their businesses. Mergers and acquisitions usher in the commercialization of services taking away sentimental values and altering of priorities in the practice. One may find comments such as profits over animal care quickly arising amongst veterinarians