What is this Blog based on?
This blog is based on a book that I have written with Dr. Chris Brady about where business and military intelligence techniques should be used when companies or organizations merge or acquire each other. We hope that this website and blog will stimulate further ideas and discussion. We know that there are many examples that we don’t know about where intelligence techniques have been used to great effect in M&A (mergers and acquisitions) deals; likewise, we are certain that there are many deals that failed because such techniques were not used. Our book includes many examples of both, but we would like to hear about other examples and provide a place where these can be shared with everyone.
It is certainly not necessary to read the book first to understand and contribute to this blog. But for those interested in reading it, the full title is: Intelligent M&A: Navigating the Mergers and Acquisitions Minefield. Authors are Scott Moeller and Chris Brady. The ISBN is 978-0-470-05812-1. It is a hardcover book published by Wiley, and their website has complete information about the book including a table of contents. It is available from Amazon or any bookstore. On-line, you can follow this link to purchase it
By-the-way, Chris had over 16 years in the Royal Navy in the itelligence area and then moved into business before becoming an academic; I was in investment banking and finance for almost 25 years. Together, we have over 60 years of practical business experience, but including the contributions of others, it is many, many times that.
The book itself covers the following:
Use business intelligence techniques to be more successful when acquiring firms.
Strategies for integrating two companies after they merge.
How to be one of the people who survive the axe when layoffs occur as two companies combine.
It is the first book and we believe this is the first website / blog that look at the full process of a merger or acquisition to identify where business intelligence can improve those odds of a favorable outcome. Using techniques developed by governmental intelligence services and honed by savvy business leaders over the two huge merger waves of the past decade, the book uses a wide range of actual case studies, quotations and anecdotes to demonstrate how to build success into every phase of the deal. Not just large global corporate mergers, but also small company acquisitions, public sector mergers, and private deals are discussed. The following are areas discussed in the book and hopefully will be discussed on this blog over time:
Ø Design the best acquisition process
Ø Control your advisors and other ‘outsiders’
Ø Identify the targets that really do fit your strategy
Ø Defend against unsolicited hostile bids
Ø Use intelligence techniques to conduct due diligence
Ø Value, price, and finance each deal to your advantage
Ø Develop the best negotiation and bid strategy
Ø Focus from the start on post-deal integration
Ø Make acquisition skills one of your company’s core competency
Covering current trends in the market and anticipating changes yet to take hold, the book includes sections about the best alternatives to merging or acquiring, differences between public and private deals, when and how to use outside ‘experts’ most effectively, the increasing importance of culture and communication in planning successful deals, and the important role of arbitrageurs, private equity firms and hedge funds. Again, we hope that this will stimulate some discussion here.
One further topic from ‘Intelligent Mergers’ is a discussion of how managers and other employees can position themselves to best survive a merger. I think this is a particularly interesting topic and I hope that there are many tips and ideas that can be shared about it on this blog.
