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The
Business
Development Knowledge Network
Post Merger
Integration (PMI) Templates
Members only files in this table. Non member files are in main body text table.
HR Post-Merger Integration Plan
Sample PMI Communications Plan
Managing The Communications Aspects
Post Merger Integration - The Key Ingredient of M&A Success
Your
company may be involved in an M&A transaction right now. Or you may
be called upon to assist clients in orchestrating strategic
acquisitions. In either case, beware: the odds are stacked against the
combining companies!
By
all accounts, corporate mergers continue to disappoint in their failure
to meet management's strategic and financial expectations. The question
is why. Companies have steadily improved their approach to acquisition
planning in recent years. They have learned from the scores of books,
articles, conferences and seminars that provide ample best-practices
guidance on making mergers work. What's more, many leading corporations
have expertly systematized post merger integration planning and implementation, and
have shared much of their knowledge with the global business community.
Still,
we continue to see large-scale merger mishaps … despite the growing
base of time-tested tutelage on the do's and don'ts of M&A planning.
Again
the question: Why do mergers continue to fail to enhance shareholder
value? The answer: Too often, there is a serious lack of leadership by
CEOs and their senior executives during the post-merger integration
process.
Weak
leadership is a main contributor to failed corporate combinations. This
is because many corporate executives simply don't realize what's
required of them from a M&A and merger integration leadership standpoint. Following are
five critical success factors that C-level executives must attain to
lead their companies to M&A success.
1.
Quickly Establish the Company's Vision and Values
- Any large
corporate combination effectively creates a new organization. With any
new company must come a new vision … a picture of the desirable future
that can or will be for the company's employees and stakeholders.
Articulating that vision is the CEO's first leadership task. Underlying
the new vision are new values. Values shape people's behaviors based on
the ideals the company holds to be important. When employees embrace
their firm's values, they embrace its goals. Workers gain a sense of
ownership and commitment. Consequently, they're more loyal and show a
desire to do their best every day. Their positivism spreads through the
combined company, helping to spawn the broad employee buy-in so critical
to attaining integration objectives.
2.
Foster and Ensure Information-Sharing
- The post-merger integration
process is inherently based on data transfer and knowledge-sharing.
Unfortunately, integration is a time when communicative cooperation is
often non-existent. New co-workers are naturally leery of each
other. There are no bonds between them. There is certainly little or no
trust. These factors hinder information flows. It is the CEO's job to
break the communication logjam. The CEO must actively promote the
benefits and necessity of information sharing. Breaking down barriers -
and building bonds between the new co-workers - is one of the CEO's most
crucial leadership challenges.
| Post Merger Integration (PMI) Templates | Click Box For Free View of Each Document | Click Box to Buy Each Document - Annual Membership Not Required. Download link will be sent to your email. |
| Integration Initiatives For Each Functional Area - PMI01 |
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| Integration Functions Timeline - PMI02 |
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| Model to Plan & Execute the Integration - PMI03 |
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| Example of An Actual Integration Plan - PMI04 |
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| Second Example of An Actual Integration Plan - PMI04-2 |
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| HR Integration Plan Example - PMI05 |
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| Merger Integration Best Practices - PMI06 |
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| Integration Approach Kick Off Presentation - PMI07 |
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Download
Additional Comprehensive Merger Integration Plans
For Annual Subscription Members
Only
| Company | Integration Plan Description |
| Hewlett Packard - HP |
Overall Company Plus Functional Areas |
| Pfizer | Overall Company Plus Functional Areas |
| International Glass | Overall Company Plus Functional Areas |
| Sankyo | R&D Functional Areas |
| Pfizer | Information Technology (IT) Functional Areas |
| Shipbuilding Manufacturer | Functional Areas Plus Overall Industry |
|
|
Post merger integration plan example with emphasis on supply chain integration |
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Different type of deals (e.g. hostile vs. friendly) carry different approaches to post merger integration. This document lays out the differences in approaches |
3.
Be the Consummate Communicator
- CEOs must get out and actively
serve as the chief proponent of the integration initiative. Too often I
see CEOs and the senior management team remain holed up in their offices
without ever venturing out to meet their new employees! These executives
feel that, just because internal memos and newsletter articles carry
their by-line, they are adequately communicating with their new people.
They're not. Written communications are essential, of course. But
nothing replaces the power of face-to-face interaction.
4.
Lead the Leaders
- Leadership doesn't mean doing the job all alone.
Contemporary organizations, with their flatter hierarchies and empowered
workforces, require true leadership at every level. Cultivating and
deploying multiple leaders is another urgent task of the CEO and his or
her senior managers. Careful selection of one's leadership lieutenants
is essential. Remember: the leadership skills required in a post-merger
context are quite precise … and somewhat different than those required
in a typical organizational setting. Integration leaders must be adept
at negotiating (there will invariably be disputes and friction between
new co-workers). These leaders must be cool-headed and flexible (the
high-intensity situations that characterize the integration process
often require on-the-spot shifts in tactics). These leaders must be
motivators (they will serve as influential spokespeople in helping to
champion the merged firm's new strategic direction). It's the CEO's job
to identify, train, empower and dispatch loyal, high-potential managers
to help achieve integration objectives as swiftly as possible.
5.
Actively Forge the Culture
- This is the most important, overarching
leadership role of the CEO. As stated, totally new organizations are
formed in large-scale M&A transactions. When new organizations are
formed, so too must their cultures. Initially, integration requires that
dissimilar cultures be aligned. It is only over time that a new culture
can be proactively developed. Each of the foregoing point underscores
this critical success factor: everything the CEO does in supporting the
integration process must be undertaken with an eye toward developing a
new high-performance culture.
In
Summary
The
enormous challenges of M&A are well known. What is not as well
documented are the specific M&A leadership skills corporate leaders
must demonstrate. Clearly, every corporate combination is different.
Thus, each one poses unique leadership challenges. The aforementioned
leadership roles are the ones most central to achieving M&A success.
Invariably, the integration milieu is characterized by turbulence. It's
the role of senior executives to be the leadership beacons that help the
merged company navigate the choppy waters and reach its strategic
destination.
