If you are thinking you will be selling your company, these are a few key principles you will want to have in mind when you structure the deal.  These principles will help you maximize your value as well as the chances of success..

Read about the reasons why Roll Up’s have a higher rate of success and how they might address their unique challenges.

Why do companies with good cultures fail when it comes to acquisitions? Is it inevitable that companies with successful track records of internal growth will overwhelms the acquired's less defined culture? When does a strength become a weakness?

This article explores these questions and looks at the impact of culture on competitive differentiators and the value of the deal.

What is it that will make your acquisition thrive over the long haul?  Most companies do an impressive job of planning and managing the integration of systems, structures and processes, so what makes the difference in why some acquisitions thrive while most fail to achieve their intended goals.

Merging Sales Forces
by Steve Abbey and Dennis Fitzgerald

Perhaps the most difficult integration is integrating the sales and support efforts.  Too often revenue opportunities are dissipated, customers confused, and key employees disillusioned.  In this article, Steve and Dennis outline a process to frame the integration of two or more sales organizations into one.

It’s Not Rocket Science
by Dennis Fitzgerald

Acquisitions have been occurring for as long as business has been around, yet still most fail.  In this article, Dennis outlines some of the critical success factors as well as the most common failure points based on best practice research conducted by AcquisitionWorks.

Leadership Gap
by Dennis Fitzgerald

There is often a gap in leadership created when one company acquires another.  This gap while obvious to the acquired employees is not always seen by the executive management of the acquiring company.  Find out why and review a couple of suggestions for preventing this gap in your acquisitions.

Selection Bias
by Dennis Fitzgerald

How unbiased are our selections when combining the management teams of two companies?  Obviously we all want to select the best from both worlds.  Why doesn’t this happen and what can you do about it.

10 Steps
by Don Jacobs and Dennis Fitzgerald

Your company has just been acquired.  Is this the end of your career there?  Here are 10 practical steps that you can take to enhance your career changes in an acquisition situation.

Why an Independent Consultant
by Dennis Fitzgerald

If the best practices are well understood (see It’s Not Rocket Science) why do we continue to see so many failures in Mergers and Acquisitions?  How can an independent consultant increase your chances of success?

The Hierarchy Gap
from Anthony Buono and James Bowditch

Why is it that after many months have passed the acquired company has yet to fully embrace the strategic intent of the acquisition?  This article sheds some light on the reasons why and suggests some possible directions for successfully gaining employee commitment to the new strategy.

The Elevator Pitch on Paper.  This is the 10,000 ft. view of who we are and what we do.  (2 pgs).

For Managers, for Acquired Workforces, for Integration Teams, etc.  ... valuable information about how you can prepare your team for the unique challenges of Mergers and Acquisitions.

This is a scoping exercise to thoroughly capture the current status of the organizations. The outcome provides a benchmark/start point and an independent view of the progress and results achieved thus far in the process.

What is it?  A one day workshop on doing business in/with a specific country.  Currently workshops are available for all countries in Europe, the Middle East, and India with development ongoing for programs in Latin America and China.

Which dimensions are the major attributes that define an organization’s culture?  This tool may be used as a questionnaire, an interview guide or a process outline. Once an organization understands its vision, values and strategy it will want to shape its culture around these important business tenants.

Assessing Employee Views
 

The due diligence is influenced by the sellers need to put their best face forward and their desire to get the highest price for their company. Selling executives will often talk about their emotional attachment to the company they have built, leading the buyer to think that they will continue in a committed fashion to the transition ahead. Too often their attitudes change once the company is no longer theirs.

Customer Value Creation
 

We offer a unique program that will:
• Fully leverage the strategic intent of the acquisition
• Involve the acquired company’s management in refining the strategic vision
• Revitalize the acquired workforce
• Establish action plans toward execution on the new strategy

Customer Validation Survey
 

Wouldn’t you like to know what your target’s customers really think of the company you want to acquire? Of course, your target does not want its customers to know that they are potentially for sale. Understandably, they are concerned that this information will disrupt their relationships.  Our Customer Validation Survey is the solution.

Progress Audit
 

Are you achieving the strategic goals that you set out for your acquisition? Do you worry that there may be forces eroding the value of your investment in your acquisition? Our Progress Audit we will provide you with a comprehensive view of where you stand, including successful actions to date as well as an analysis of any potential problem areas. Get the facts while there is still time to make a course correction if necessary.

A FREE download of a comprehensive human asset focused Due Diligence Checklist to complement your financial and strategic checklists.  This checklist was lauded in the book, Enhancing Inter-firm Networks and Interorganizational Strategies, in the Chapter on “What Due Diligence Really means”.

This checklist provides an overview of the M&A process and will be particularly useful to those who are new to the acquisition process, the student of M&A’s or those wishing to compare their own steps to a general process from strategic goal setting to full integration.

This powerpoint document  provides a wealth of information from a variety of studies from a variety of sources, including Booz Hamilton, KPMG, and others.