A fundamental rule in M&A is to not destroy value, so you have to take the time to develop your processes and plan carefully for the eventuality that something goes wrong. I’ve found that the most frequently-repeated problems are relating to people – how they react to changes and how they resist it and what they do if things don’t go as planned.

One of the main things we do for clients is helping them set an approach that will allow them to identify potential issues early on and then respond quickly. This can be achieved by holding an annual IMO meeting and working streams to review progress and escalate issues and risks to SteerCo.

After the process of addressing issues is established, it’s crucial to focus on the implementation. This means ensuring that the team knows what it’s required to achieve and how it will be measured, and when. It also requires clearly publishing accountability (i.e., ownership of the final results) and decision-making authority for the entire company.

It is crucial to ensure that the CEO as well as senior management are able to spend at minimum 90 percent of their time focusing on core business issues and not be distracted by integration tasks. It’s a good idea to appoint an executive who will manage the Decision Management Office and coordinate work streams. This can be someone from the organization that acquired the company or an emerging https://reising-finanz.de/finanzversicherung/ star within the newly merged company who has the support of their boss who is willing to make this commitment.