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- Five Frogs on a Log
Overall, I liked
this book, the following are my notes:
7 deadly sins
of implementing M&A:
- Obsessive list
making
- Content-free
communications
- Creating a planning
circus
- Barnyard behavior
- Preaching vision
and values
- Putting turtles
on fence posts (execs and managers taking care of their "own"
- Rewarding the
wrong behaviors
Miscellaneous
Notes:
- execute the transition
as quickly as possible, no delays
- Deciding to do
the acquistion is easy - executing as usual is hard!
- Rapid growth
is the primary driver for M&A
- Mergers create
unstable employees - they become ripe for the competition to hire
away
- Mergers of "equal"
often blow up
- Don't try
to select the best practices of each company and merge them -
it never works
- One side
always dominates no matter what
- People expect
lots of changes in M&A, if you hesitate you'll lose all of the
impact of those changes
- Your very
speed in making changes reduces peoples resistanc
Value Driver
Analysis:
The process to move
forward on 20% of the issues that drive 80% of the $ value of the deal.You
must allocate fundamental tactical actions first, actions with predictable
payoff and success. Concentrated resources @ DECISIVE points helps win
the battle.
Create a VDA matrix
- plot the tasks on the Y axis and probability of success on the x axis.
- Get all available
information
- What actions
increase $, and what actions lower costs
- Quanify the
impact of each action
- Decide on
the probablity of success
- Rank each
- Concentrate resources
against the top ranked items
Four (More) Rules
of M&A
- No secrets
- No suprises
- No hype
- No empty promises
Communications
The following is
an exersise designed to figure out what and how to communicate the merger
messages to the different stakeholders (employees, investors, etc...)
Create a grid with
each stakeholder down one the x axis. On the y axis, list all the issues.
In each cell, write a 25 word company positioning statement geared for
that stakeholder. In addition, create a "rude" question for
each box - i.e. What job will I get, Will I be fired?
In any case, the
customers MUST be the top priority - slow transitions have proven to
create more difficulties w/customers.
Launching the
Transition
- Create common
understanding (Value drivers) and actions
- Create plans
for value drivers
- Energize small
teams to act
4 Myths of Culture
Change and Integration
- Cultural incompatibility
is the biggest cause of post-deal failure
- Culture is an
intractable force
- Cultures can
be blended gradually (no such thing as a merger of equals)
- Culture can be
changed by preaching values and vision
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