Despite the high percentage of failed combinations, companies remain on the lookout for acquisition opportunities. George F. Brown, Jr. offers expert strategic advice for potential purchasers.

The increased pace of merger and acquisition activity late in 2010, including some huge deals, suggests that 2011 will be an active year. Low interest rates, significant cash on many firms’ balance sheets, and stock prices that are low enough to attract buyers but high enough to move sellers off the sidelines all reinforce that possibility.

Jeffrey Liker and Mike Rother, world renowned authorities on the Toyota Production System, argue that lean is not just about using tools to improve operational processes, but more about perfecting the improvement process itself.

The US antidumping law is not working, says William E. Perry. It destroys US jobs instead of protecting them, while Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms (TAAF) could be just what they need.

GE has entered an agreement with international energy services company Wood Group to acquire its Well Support Division for $2.8 billion.

Wood Group's Well Support division comprises three business platforms: ESP (electric submersible pumps), Pressure Control (surface wellhead and flow control systems) and Logging Services (wireline logging).

Rolls-Royce has signed a long-term service contract with Emirates worth £1.4 billion.

Under the terms of the TotalCare agreement, Rolls-Royce technicians will maintain the Trent engines of 70 Airbus aircraft that Emirates is due to acquire over the next few years.

The deal follows Rolls-Royce’s $1.2 billion contract signed in November to service engines on a further 48 Emirates aeroplanes. The number of Emirates aircraft now being serviced under the TotalCare scheme is 128.

Over 40 years after the original Boeing 747 stunned the world in September 1968, Boeing unveiled its new 747-8 Intercontinental yesterday at the same factory in Everett, Washington.

Sunday's event, branded "Incredible, Again", took place in front of a crowd of almost 10,000 Boeing employees, their families, government officials, partners, suppliers and industry VIPs.

Aker Solutions has received a letter of intent from Statoil for the engineering, procurement and construction of a subsea workover system for the Vigdis North East development on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Vigdis North East is an oil and gas development situated in water depths of around 280 metres in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. Aker’s work will include provision of a complete range of components for open water workover operations.

Microsoft and Nokia today announced plans to form a broad strategic partnership to create what they describe as “a new global mobile ecosystem” to take on Google and Apple in an all-out phone war.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop (who left Microsoft to join Nokia last September) and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer have issued an “open letter” outlining a summary of their plans. Here is the letter in full:

Tullow Oil has announced a new discovery of oil and gas offshore Ghana, close to the Jubilee Field.

The company said it discovered 73 metres of net hydrocarbons in the field, in which it has a 22.896 per cent stake. The well is located in the West Cape Three Points licence, outside the Jubilee unit boundary.