The text is an invaluable guide in evaluating the suitability of liquidation as a corporate strategic planning tool. Factors such as taxes, regulations, market forces, cessation of business and government intervention are some of the reasons why firms decide to liquidate. The book also explores the mechanics of liquidation including severance agreements, employee stock options, and the use of legal, accounting and other experts in the liquidation process. "Entrepreneurial Manager's Newsletter"

Voluntary liquidation entails selling all of a firM's assets for cash, paying off all outstanding debts, and distributing the remaining funds to stockholders as liquidating dividends. Kudla's book, which is the first systematic examination of the subject, will enable corporate executives to evaluate the suitability of liquidation as a corporate strategic planning tool. The author begins with an explanation of the rationale for liquidations and looks at the reasons why a firm may be worth more dead than alive, examining such factors as taxes, regulations, market forces, cessation of business, and government intervention. He describes the mechanics of liquidation; severance agreements for employees; employee stock options; and the use of legal, accounting, and other types of experts in the liquidation process. He discusses the major tax aspects, including the impact of the 1986 Tax Reform Act, and shows how corporation liquidations may benefit common stockholders. To illustrate the diversity of liquidation scenarios, Kudla offers case studies of three firms that found voluntary liquidation to be the most appropriate strategic alternative.

Ronald J. Kudla and Thomas H. McInish explore the implications and advantages of the spin-off, a type of business divestiture which results in a new, separate, publicly held operating company. Using information from in-depth interviews with executives experienced in such divestitures, the authors explain the anticipated benefits to the corporation, as well as to the stockholders of the parent firm. They also explore involuntary spin-offs such as in the recent case of American Telephone and Telegraph--the largest spin-off in history. In successive chapters the authors describe and illustrate the motives for spin-offs, the mechanical aspects, accounting and tax aspects, and the effects of spin-offs on shareholder wealth. Finally, they present four specific case studies of spin-offs.