M&A delivery teams are separate from the teams that work on other business transformation or change projects in both consultancies and corporates…but are M&A integrations really different from other change projects? As an M&A consultant that always felt right to me, however the more deals I do, the more I question why it’s necessary…

David Boyd13 March 2019David Boyd

We need a revolution in M&A

All the big name consultancies have used an identical process for delivering mergers and acquisitions over the last 20 years, always sold on fear: “deals fail”, “focus on quick cost synergies”, “revenue synergies are difficult”, and “use our structured process”. They’ve been at this for two decades and we have yet to see headlines that deals are now more successful as a result. We are here to turn the industry on its head, challenge how everything is done and show that there is another way.

David Boyd27 February 2019Ben de Haldevang, David Boyd

When you’ve created your playbook… burn it.

I’ve found that my most successful projects are the ones where a team of people comes together to create a ‘playbook’ or ‘blueprint’ for what they want to achieve. That’s included integration playbooks, go-to-market strategies, revenue management practices, and even working capital reduction projects. The alignment that you’ve created around a shared vision and way-of-working is the true value.

David Boyd30 January 2019David Boyd

Buying a business which is performing exceptionally well; what’s the right approach?

Occasionally, if you’ve been in the M&A world for a while, you’ll find a real gem of a business which an acquirer has stumbled upon and bought. It’s a moment of joy as the opportunities which the combined entity offers start to accumulate and you, as the integration director, begin to realise that the real potential is even greater.

David Boyd18 January 2019Ben de Haldevang

The myopia of modern business…

Practical application of System One/Two thinking, popularised by Daniel Kahneman, can be found across leading consumer businesses, at least in their marketing departments. We’re yet to see it get widely used by Internal Comms teams in M&A.

David Boyd30 October 2018David Boyd

Why the method in M&A is madness

You’ve read the articles saying most M&A deals aren’t successful, so you’ve put in place a project team to deal with the complexity of the task. Surely if an integration managed by this standard approach fails it’s a fair assumption that it failed because the methodology wasn’t adhered to rigorously enough. All that is needed for success next time is increased control and planning…right?

David Boyd9 October 2018David Boyd