Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) Success Factors

Success Factors of Mergers and Acquisitions
Andreas Muller, Consultant, Sweden
Looking at the M&A that I came in contact with I think one reason for the low success rate is that often a merger arises from opportunity and not from genuine strategic planning.
Sometimes some board members meet loosely see some similarities and the idea is borne.
However seldom you see a strict approach where you have a company vision and a mission statement as a base for a strategy that makes a merger a necessity.
With such a low success rate it is a high risk gamble. I'm surprised to see so many ventures going this road.

Why are 70% of Mergers and Acquisitions Considered a Failure?
Wolfgang Braun, CEO, Germany
Integrate M&A into your strategic planning process.
M&A is a complex business activity and requires experiences in all of your business functions.
Every acquisition is unique and needs a quick and consistent due diligence process.
Most M&A processes end at signing the deal - normally failures become visible after the deal is signed.
A merger integration strategy should exist, BEFORE the deal is signed - value is generated in the post merger integration!

Why are 70 % of M&A Considered a Failure?
Vishal Acharya, Consultant, India
@Wolfgang Braun : Many succesful M&As are a part of the organisation culture or DNA of the acquiring company, which they use as a strategy for the inorganic growth.
When the organisation takes M&A as a one time opportunity, without assessing their ability and the synergy the other organisation which will bring on board, the M&A is bound to fail.
Moreover, organisations may not be equipped for the pre M&A stage, for the actual M&A and most importantly for the integration after the M&A has been done.
Also the goal with which they started may have diluted or may not be achieved if an alignment of goals and the strategy is not done carefully.