Smart Things to Know About Mergers and Acquisitions

Tony Grundy is Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management at Cranfield School of Management, and Director of Cambridge Corporate Development. He has consulted with numerous companies including Barclays Bank, BP, Ford, Lex, Hewlett Packard, ICI, The Prudential, Nokia, Norwich Union and Tesco. He is also author of Smart Things to Know About Growth and several books in the ExpressExec series. He can be contacted via a.grundy@cranfield.ac.uk or via 01494 873 934.

• Chapter 1 – Introduction – Acquisitions and Growth. Acquisition logic and growth – the acquisition culture.Acquisitions strategy and business growth.The logic of acquisitions and routes to growth.Acquisitions, alliances and organic development.How acquisitions can add, dilute or destroy shareholder value.Acquisitions and shareholder value (1) – types of acquisitions.Acquisitions and shareholder value (2) – segmenting the value.The acquisition process.Integrating management perspectives – strategic, financial, organisational, tax, legal.Alternatives to acquisition – alliances and organic development.Divestment.Structure of the book.Summary.Chapter 2 – The Acquisition Strategy. Introduction – championing the strategy.Strategy and objectives.Gap analysis – where do acquisitions fit in?Acquisition options.Strategic and financial attractiveness, implementation difficulty, uncertainty and risk, and stakeholder acceptability.Determining criteria – do’s and don’ts. Detailed evaluation – external.BMW and Rover case study.Detailed evaluation – internal.Summary.Chapter 3 – Search. Introduction.Different search processes.Approaching your target.Summary.Chapter 4 – Acquisitions – Strategic Due Diligence. Introduction.Evaluation, strategic attractiveness – the GE grid.Financial attractiveness.Evaluating implementation difficulty.Uncertainty and risk.Stakeholder acceptability.Summary.Chapter 5 – Gaining the Overview – Success in Due Diligence. Introduction.Markets and marketing.Products and services.Technology and ITBMW and Rover case (continued).Operations and people.Manufacturing.Summary.Chapter 6 – Financial Evaluation. Segmenting the value of an acquisition.Bases of valuation – earnings, assets, discounted cash flows.Price-earnings ratio.Assets backing.Discounted cash flows.Scenarios and uncertainty and risk analysis.Links to the negotiation process.Chapter 7 – Managing the Deal. Introduction – acquisition options and bargaining power.Understanding deal-making agendas.Deal scenarios.Deal-making do’s and don’ts.Funding the acquisition.BMW and Rover case (continued).Summary.Chapter 8 – Acquisition Integration. The role of the acquisition champion. Integration success and failure.Integration strategies – the alternatives.Communication issues and the BMW/Rover case (continued).Project managing integration.Evaluating success.Post acquisition learning and review.Summary.Chapter 9 – The Champneys Case. Introduction and background.Acquisition integration strategy – options.The integration process.The integration plan.Managing the integration – the dynamics.Case postscript.Summary.Chapter 10 – Conclusion. The role of acquisitions – a review.Diagnosis of your own skills and weaknesses.Acquisitions and your career.Appendix 1.Granada and Forte case study.