“We tend to exaggerate what we can achieve in one day and underestimate what we can achieve in one year.”
This is especially true in the case of mergers or acquisitions. The following is a list of lessons that can be learned to do a successful merger.
#1. Challenge assumption: Most management keeps all companies work more or less the same. This is not true. All companies, even if they are the same industry are unique. The differences tend to be subtle and therefore easy to ignore. One of the assumptions that often made when a company is struggling is that the existing management is simply no good, and that is easy for a “well done” company to solve the problems. Usually is not.
#2. Plan Plan Plan: Mergers and acquisitions tend to be interesting. Sometimes the thrill of deal overshadowed the proper detailed planning. Plan every aspect of customers, suppliers, employees etc.
#3. Plan for the downside. One of the characteristics of a good business man is that they tend to be optimistic. But in higher-risk situations, people have to always look at the downside and plan contingencies.
#4. Be flexible: although we must have a plan, we must be flexible and change plans based on new results.
#5. Always Learning: One of the things that will make us succeed as a company is to have a culture of learning. Part of our challenge of integration is the blindness that can be learned.
#6. Survived. In the challenges, keep trying. Persistence got us by the integration. Persistence pays.
#7. And finally, think long term. This is the long term that makes for really big companies.
Acquisitions tend to go through phases. The excitement and euphoria of the deals followed by the work integration the company and generally disappointment that results are not as expected. But if the acquisition is well planned and actually well conceived, the third phase happen, true performance and the synergy occurs.