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21-399: The various product brands are now being licensed to various companies by the holding firm AgfaPhoto Holding GmbH . Minilab service and chemicals are e.g. now sold by A&O Imaging Solutions, and AgfaPhoto Vista Brand Film is sold by Lupus Imaging & Media. In 2004, Agfa-Gevaert announced that it had reached a definitive agreement to divest the whole of its Consumer Imaging business in

42-623: A spin-off . In the United States, divestment of certain parts of a company can occur when required by the Federal Trade Commission before a merger with another firm is approved. A company can divest assets to wholly owned subsidiaries. It is a process of selling an asset. The largest corporate divestiture in history was the 1984 U.S. Department of Justice -mandated breakup of the Bell System into AT&T and

63-485: A firm. A divestment is the opposite of an investment . Divestiture is an adaptive change and adjustment of a company's ownership and business portfolio made to confront with internal and external changes. Firms may have several motives for divestitures: Often the term is used as a means to grow financially in which a company sells off a business unit in order to focus their resources on a market it judges to be more profitable, or promising. Sometimes, such an action can be

84-590: A large border port and receives aid from other countries in exchange for peace and restrictions in their nuclear programme. Another example would be oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates , which see no need to further open up their economies to foreign capital and investments since their oil reserves already provide them with huge export earnings. Economic liberalization applies to domestic deregulation and trade liberalization such as free trade . Liberalization offers

105-825: A long-term trademark agreement with Agfa-Gevaert NV & Co. KG and Agfa-Gevaert NV, the company is granting sublicenses for the AgfaPhoto-trademark and the Red-Dot-Logo. The following consumer imaging products are offered with the AgfaPhoto trademark: Digital Cameras and Camcorders, 35mm Analog Film, Disposable Film Cameras, Low-cost Film Cameras, Flash Memory Cards & USB Drives, Batteries, Digital Photo Frames, Minilabs (including Service and spare Parts), Optical and Magnetic Storage Media, LCD TVs, DVD Players, Pocket Projectors, Binoculars, Cleaning Products, Ink Cartridges, Photo Paper. The official claim of

126-445: A management buyout for a purchase price of €175.5 million. The divestment covered the whole of its Consumer Imaging business, including film, finishing products, and lab equipment, grouped in a new company – AgfaPhoto GmbH, as well as the related lease portfolio, in a management buyout. The targeted closing date of the transaction was November 1, 2004. The transaction resulted in a non-cash book loss to Agfa-Gevaert of €430 million, but

147-788: A positive as well as negative development. For example, it can lead to better services for domestic consumers, improve the performance and competitiveness of domestic service providers, as well as simply attract FDI /foreign capital into the country. In fact, some research suggest a 50% cut in service trade barriers over a five- to ten-year period would create global gains in economic welfare of around $ 250 billion per annum. Preferential trading areas can increase democratization when trading between with other democracies. Trade liberalisation carries substantial risks that necessitate careful economic management through appropriate regulation by governments. Some argue foreign providers crowd out domestic providers and instead of leading to investment and

168-493: A separate Department of Disinvestments . Economic liberalization Economic liberalization , or economic liberalisation , is the lessening of government regulations and restrictions in an economy in exchange for greater participation by private entities. In politics, the doctrine is associated with classical liberalism and neoliberalism . Liberalization in short is "the removal of controls" to encourage economic development . Many countries have pursued and followed

189-485: Is not a free market at all, but instead a privatized market (IE, markets can be 'bought'). Other potential risks resulting from liberalisation, include: However, researchers at thinks tanks such as the Overseas Development Institute argue the risks are outweighed by the benefits and that what is needed is careful regulation. For instance, there is a risk that private providers will 'skim off'

210-508: Is to ensure that our countries can rise to this challenge." In developing countries, economic liberalization refers more to liberalization or further "opening up" of their respective economies to foreign capital and investments. Three of the fastest growing developing economies today; Brazil, China, and India, have achieved rapid economic growth in the past several years or decades, in part, from having liberalized their economies to foreign capital. Many countries nowadays, particularly those in

231-404: The brand: "AgfaPhoto is the personal companion that lets consumers experience the world of images in all its exciting facets and turns the special moments in life into lasting and shareable memories." Divest In finance and economics , divestment or divestiture is the reduction of some kind of asset for financial, ethical, or political objectives or sale of an existing business by

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252-410: The economically restrictive provisions of their 1987 constitution . By this measure, an opposite of a liberalized economy are economies such as North Korea's economy with their "self-sufficient" economic system that is closed to foreign trade and investment (see autarky ). However, North Korea is not completely separate from the global economy, since it actively trades with China, through Dandong ,

273-403: The information about any division that they wish to sell on their website so that it is available to any firm that may be interested in buying the division. For example, Alcoa has established an online showroom of the divisions that are for sale. By communicating the information online, Alcoa has reduced its hotel, travel, and meeting expenses. Firms use transitional service agreements to increase

294-515: The most profitable clients and cease to serve certain unprofitable groups of consumers or geographical areas. Yet such concerns could be addressed through regulation and by a universal service obligations in contracts, or in the licensing, to prevent such a situation from occurring. Of course, this bears the risk that this barrier to entry will dissuade international competitors from entering the market. Examples of such an approach include South Africa's Financial Sector Charter or Indian nurses who promoted

315-691: The opportunity for the service sector to compete internationally, contributing to GDP growth and generating foreign exchange. As such, service exports are an important part of many developing countries' growth strategies. India's IT services have become globally competitive as many companies have outsourced certain administrative functions to countries where costs (esp. wages) are lower. Furthermore, if service providers in some developing economies are not competitive enough to succeed on world markets, overseas companies will be attracted to invest, bringing with them international "best practices" and better skills and technologies. The entry of foreign service providers can be

336-695: The path of economic liberalization in the 1980s, 1990s and in the 21st century, with the stated goal of maintaining or increasing their competitiveness as business environments. Liberalization policies may or often include the partial or complete privatization of government institutions and state-owned assets , greater labour market flexibility , lower tax rates for businesses, less restrictions on both domestic and foreign capital, open markets , etc. In support of liberalization, former British prime minister Tony Blair wrote: "Success will go to those companies and countries which are swift to adapt, slow to complain, open and willing to change. The task of modern governments

357-399: The seven Baby Bells . Of the 1000 largest global companies, those that are actively involved in both acquiring and divesting create as much as 1.5 to 4.7 percentage points higher shareholder returns than those primarily focused on acquisitions. Examples of divestment for social goals include: Some firms are using technology to facilitate the process of divesting some divisions. They post

378-494: The strategic benefits of divestitures. Divestment execution includes five critical work streams: governance, tax, carve-out financial statements, deal-basis information, and operational separation. Companies often create cross-disciplined teams composed of IT, HR, legal, tax, and other key business units, to implement a business separation. With economic liberalization of the Indian economy , India's Ministry of Finance set up

399-599: The third world, arguably were given no choice but to "liberalize" their economies to remain competitive in attracting and retaining both their domestic and foreign investments. This is referred to as the TINA factor, standing for " there is no alternative ". For example, in China after Cultural Revolution , reforms were introduced,. Similarly, in the Philippines , the contentious proposals for Charter Change include amending

420-401: The transfer of skills, it allows foreign providers and shareholders "to capture the profits for themselves, taking the money out of the country". Thus, it is often argued that protection is needed to allow domestic companies the chance to develop before they are exposed to international competition. This is also supported by the anthropologist Trouillot who argues that the current market system

441-479: Was cash positive to the extent of €260 million. While the trading environment for both HealthCare and Graphic System divisions improved considerably, the group's half year results were heavily affected by the expected book loss on the divestiture of Consumer Imaging. The AgfaPhoto Holding GmbH, headquartered in Leverkusen and Cologne / Germany , is dealing internationally in the consumer imaging sector. Based on

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