Strategic planning, acquisitions, revenue targets – the year stretches ahead with plans and more plans. As in previous years, all these plans represent change. New people, new divisions, new processes, new systems all mean doing things differently. How well has your organization dealt with changing to achieve in the past? Are plans made but it’s[…]
1. Choosing an Inappropriate Target “We paid too much. Is it really a good fit?” Don’t let the desire to get your competitor’s customers cause you to pay too much for their company. There is a pretty good chance that their customer won’t stay anyway. Another tactic we commonly see is to buy “a geography”[…]
How Entrepreneurs Transition to the Next Stage by Barbara B. Roberts, Tiger 21 Chair, and Murray B. Low Entrepreneurs are different from other people. Their talent lies in imagining a new solution or a fresh approach that gives the world something it may not have even realized it needed. Building a successful enterprise from start-up[…]
5 Dangers to Avoid Merger and acquisition activity is at an all time high. Not surprisingly, many believe that acquiring another company is a quick, easy way to add products and customers. But most unions fail – One KPMG study found that 83 percent of merger deals hadn’t boosted shareholder returns, while a separate study[…]
You may be expecting talent run-off, but did you know that 47% of senior executives in the acquired company leave in the first year? Those who don’t jump ship will be dealing with stress and fear responses that can take 18 months to fade away. What buyers miss is that the organization must still go through[…]
We like to call them the 5 Cs. If you want your acquisition to be successful, you better pay attention to these key strategic areas because they are first to show tension during a transition. Culture How to blend the cultures of two or more unique organizations is often overlooked during the flurry of activity[…]
How is your website factoring in to your acquisition? Familiarity may make you blind to deficiencies. During a transaction you will assess every area – don’t forget your site. Here’s a great article on Signs it’s Time for a Site Redesign: “InvestmentNews surveyed more than 1,000 adviser readers and asked them whether they planned to[…]
If you’ve been a member of YPO, the Young President’s Organization or WPO, the World President’s Organization, then you know how transformational the experience of connecting with your peers can be in a close, confidential setting. Now imagine that instead of discussing your career as an entrepreneur/owner or CEO, you were part of a similar[…]
Taking stock in the new year….how’s your ego these days? Beaten and bruised from a tough year or a bit on the Balloon Boy side? Much of leadership is about managing yourself and this article features three good ways to keep a leash on your ego. http://blogs.hbr.org/baldoni/2009/12/three_ways_to_keep_your_ego_in.html
Private equity firm Terra Firma suing Citibank over EMI deal, alleging fraud. Is it a case of taking the baseball bat and mitt and going home to sulk? Read more for the potential ramifications for M&A firms. Could get ugly. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/terra-firma-sues-citi-over-emi-deal/?_r=0
Interesting article on new movement toward vertical integration, reversing a fifty year trend in the other direction. Recent vertical buyers include PepsiCo, Oracle, GM, Apple, and Live Nation. Are conglomerates the new black or just a passing trend? Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125954262100968855.html
Predictable changes after an acquisition include a 50% drop in productivity that is not regained and sales drops between 10-60%. Up to 75% of executives in the acquired company leave within 3 years and the bleeding continues for a decade before recovery! Over the 18 month course of an average transition, there is extensive organizational[…]