Initial steps to integration success

Description

Abstract: M&A deal participants usually focus their energy on such activities as pricing, due diligence and negotiations. Numerous studies and ample anecdotal evidence suggest, however, that poor integration is the most common reason that mergers fail to meet their objectives. Buyers need to get the process rolling before they tell employees or publicly announce the deal. It’s necessary to develop an “integration philosophy” and then form a team to implement a process consistent with that philosophy. Integration isn’t a monolithic task, but instead a collection of smaller, but critical, activities involving employees, management, technology, products and clients.