by David Schweiger (Author)

Global M & A activity continues at a blistering pace. However, a recent study of Fortune 500 executives found that postmerger integration issues­­such as culture clashes, style, ego, and change management­­are the most common pitfalls that can derail otherwise successful mergers or acquisitions. M & A Integration meets that trend head-on, providing a practical framework for integrating acquisitions while helping managers direct each step in the volatile postmerger integration process.

Back Jacket

Market-Proven Strategies for Managing the Awkward, Perilous Process of Combining Two Companies into One

Once the investment bankers and lawyers have closed their briefcases and gone home, the real work of combining the operations and employees of two independent organizations has just begun. The challenge is to ensure that the valuation and synergies hypothesized prior to the closing of the deal are realized. M&A Integration walks you through every step of this often-overlooked but all too important part of the M&A process.

This hands-on, technique-filled book provides strategies, frameworks, guidelines, and real-world examples for managing a successful integration. It reviews over two decades of deals--what worked, what didn't, and why--including:

• Strategies for creating maximum value from the synergies between integrating firms
• The three stages of a successful integration and how to ensure that all are effectively managed
• Guidelines for balancing fairness with functional necessity in making personnel decisions

Filled with real-world practice and know-how, M&A Integration is the only book you will need to understand every critical step of the integration process. A frank and honest evaluation of the entire integration process, it will help time-pressed M&A decision makers confront and manage issues before they become major obstacles.

Mergers and acquisitions, by their very nature, can provide companies with new capabilities, technologies, and products; immediate entry into new markets; and lower operating costs through consolidation of resources. Yet often overlooked in the optimism and excitement of making the deal are the challenges of combining two ongoing enterprises into one.

The ultimate cost of this oversight? Lost opportunity, diminished shareholder value, and significant trauma to shareholders, employees, and, most importantly, to the company itself.

M&A Integration provides a practical, straightforward framework for seamlessly integrating companies and for creating significant value for investors while at the same time producing a strong, supercompetitive organization for employees and other stakeholders. It reviews all of the management and human resource aspects of integration, explaining how to master each in the process.

Written by one of today's most skilled and respected M&A integration experts, this step-by-step guidebook for postmerger success covers:

• The importance of laying the groundwork for integration during the initial stages of the transaction
• Effective tools for ensuring successful organizational cultural assessment and integration
• Proven techniques for maintaining open lines of communication and for limiting anxiety and anger among employees, customers, distributors, and investors
• Strategies for deciding which key executives, managers, and employees to keep and for ensuring their retention and continued success
• Approaches for successfully building integrated teams
• Methods for ensuring continuous improvement of the integration process

From clashes in culture, style, and egos to the natural organizational resistance to change, far too many otherwise healthy mergers fall victim to the minefield of postmerger integration. M&A Integration provides a practical and easy-to-follow framework for managing and directing each step in the volatile integration process. It reveals how today's most dynamic corporations are able to successfully blend disparate cultures, management processes, and organizational structures, and achieve the ultimate goal of all M&A participants--increased shareholder value and a stronger, more competitive organization.

Author Biography

David M. Schweiger, Ph.D., is the Buck Mickels/Fluor Daniel Professor at the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina, adjunct professor at EM Lyon in France, and president of the strategic management consulting firm Schweiger and Associates. He has assisted executives of numerous companies in successfully managing the M&A integration process. The coauthor of Strategic Management Skills, Dr. Schweiger is the international strategic management editor of Journal of World Business. His work has been widely published in professional journals including Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Journal, Human Resource Planning, and Organizational Dynamics.

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