 Students, we are discussing about mergers and acquisitions, and that we are discussing in the international context. Merger and acquisition can take place between two companies which are operating in the same country as well, but we are discussing it from the perspective of international management. So international merger or acquisition will take place between companies which are operating in two different countries. So when companies are operating in two different countries, that means that people from different countries will be coming to work in a foreign country, and who are those people? Those people are expatriates. So for example, if there is a merger between a company from UK and a company from Pakistan and in Pakistan, some of the people from UK will be coming to work in Pakistan as expatriates. So we want to know what is the role of these expatriates in the management of the merger and acquisition, and how do they affect the merger and acquisition? What is the importance of these people? First of all, these expatriates are representatives of the merging or acquiring company. So they are representatives of the image of the company. For example, if McDonald has come to Pakistan, people who are coming from McDonald USA to Pakistan, they will be the face of McDonald's for people who do not know in Pakistan what McDonald is. So the way they carry themselves, the way they act, the way they merge, and the way they integrate and collaborate with the local people that is going to represent what McDonald's is. They don't know what McDonald's is like in USA. The people in Pakistan will be able to see what expatriates McDonald's will come and present their image. So they are representatives of the company. They are face of the company for the people who belong to the local market. Then these people are responsible for knowledge transfer. Whatever happens in the company, in the headquarters, in the rest of the company, in other parts of the world, that becomes insignificant. What these people carry to the local market, what these people carry to that particular country, that is going to matter, what knowledge they have and how they transfer that knowledge. If they don't transfer that knowledge, if they are not friendly enough, if they are not open enough, if they are not skilled enough to transfer the knowledge of the company which is coming from outside, then it is going to be problematic. So these people are responsible for knowledge transfer from the headquarters, from the main company to the local market. Then these people are drivers of change management because they carry the strategy, the vision and mission of the company which is coming from outside to the local market and they know what is the vision and mission of the company and they are the drivers of change management. And then these people are responsible for cross-cultural integration. So these are the people who are the face of the company which is coming from the foreign country and they are responsible for carrying out the cultural integration between the two cultures. So these are the ones who need to understand the culture of the local market. They are the ones who need to be proactive. They are the ones who need to be flexible and they are the ones who need to understand and evaluate how much flexibility to show which values to modify, which values to absorb, which values to transfer. So these are people who are responsible for this cross-cultural integration. This is not necessary that you are completely the local market or your acquired firm, you become like that, this is not what is required. So what is required is that you need to keep a balance between how much you can change and how much you have to retain your own values. So these are for cross-cultural integration. Now factors behind successful integration when we see research, we see different studies. So it has been found that the factors that lead to successful integration, those are number one managers, industry experience, so for example, if you are related to FMCG, then your industry experience of FMCG can be successful. Then your experience in similar projects, if you have, then it is possible that managers will be more successful. Then your level of inter-cultural competence, how much you are competent with inter-cultural integration. For mergers, prior experience with host country or entry mode is important, that is, if you have experienced that host country before, or if you have experienced that kind of entry mode, for example, if you have been subcontracting, or if you have been franchising, or if you have been franchising, or if you have been franchising with your franchising prior experience, then mergers, that is something which is an important factor for success, but not in acquisitions. Then another factor is local language skills. That is more important for eastern managers rather than the western managers. Because the most important factor in language is learning, and for learning, the direction of flow of learning is important. So, where learning is coming from, where knowledge is coming from, understanding and learning is more important. So, if you are getting books, and talks, and all the case studies in English, then it is important for you to learn English, rather than those people who are coming from outside, although they need to learn a few people who are coming from outside, they need local language. But what is important and important in this thing is the direction of flow of learning. If the flow of learning is west to east, then you will have to learn the English language, even though you are larger in number. So, you have seen that the whole of Pakistan and the whole of Bar-e-Saghi, they learned the English language. In the British rule, when the British came here and ruled, they were so few people, but they taught the whole subcontinent, the whole world the English language, because the flow of learning was coming from Europe to the rest of the world. So, that is one of the most important features of who's language. In the future, according to the running trends, it appears that the rest of the world is going to learn the Chinese language now. Anyway, so these are the factors which make an expatriate manager more successful.