Essay from the year 2018 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 75, University of Canberra (School of Management, Faculty of Business, Government & Law), course: Master of Business Administration, language: English, abstract: In today's dynamically competitive environment where no advantage is sustainable for long, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) undoubtedly have built their own reputation to yield 'win-win' situations for several businesses. Despite the sharp upheaval of their evidentiary failures, the significance of M&A keeps pushing companies to sustain competitive advantages through access to the combined wealth of resources benefiting firms in lowering manufacturing costs, reducing financial burden, entering new markets, growing opportunities, sharing risks, and diffusing innovative technologies. Synchronously, increasing competition, structural and cultural differences, and globalisation have brought several new strategic challenges making M&A riskier and more intricate. Therefore, it is foremost essential for organisations' strategic leadership to comprehensively understand the mutual intents, recognise the underlying drivers outlining diversification of shared competencies, and entrepreneurially evaluate the rationales of companies' portfolios, industries' environment and value creating potentials.