If the strategic rationale for a merger prevails, industry professionals say, the accounting method should not matter.

But now, as shareholders and regulators place the $23 billion deal under a microscope, questions about its strategic rationale will come to the fore.

The strategic rationale was to eliminate the possibility that the Navy would be crippled by an attack on a large base.

"The board evaluated it on price, and they tried to understand the strategic rationale of both offers."

Nevertheless, there is a financial and strategic rationale for such a merger.

There might have been a strategic rationale for such a policy, since starving kidnappers of attention may be the best way to deter them.

But there are several issues both boards will have to consider besides price, including regulatory risks, the deal's structure and its strategic rationale.

According to the study, 83 percent of the executives said they had trouble fully understanding all the strategic rationales for doing the deals.

Iran was in shambles, and the old strategic rationale faded with the war.

Beyond the trade negotiations, we should not lose sight of the strategic, political and economic rationale of this agreement.