"These consultants have been integral to our post aquisition programmes in recent years. They get 'under the skin' of the organisation, and can couple the 'hard' drivers of change, such as targeted financial analysis, with the 'soft' drivers such as behaviour change, to achieve the desired result. I would engage them on any major integration programme"
Lindsay Poston, COO, Saint Gobain UK.
Mergers & Acquisitions – Integration
Brooklands CG has extensive experience in the field of business integration. We are acutely aware of the synergy trap whereby too many organisations often fail to realise the targetted benefits and shareholder value

Given the often generalised nature of strategic decision making as it occurs in reality, it may be that detailed consideration of a strategic course of action does not really take place until the planning of implementation begins, and in our experience, this is particularly so regarding mergers and acquisitions.

The risks to the delivery of timely benefits are often due to the underestimation of the size and complexity of the integration task and the lack of a detailed structure and process. There are a number of key factors that influence the degree of success and these include:

  • Underestimating the difficulty and the resource hunger of successful integration
  • Insufficient attention to soft as well as hard issues
  • Missing potential strategic opportunities
  • Insufficient attention to one or more key stakeholders – customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders
  • Managing change but failing to lead
  • Delaying implementation of benefits
  • Assuming a fair approach means equal treatment to all
  • Delaying action until all the details are agreed
  • Declaring victory too early

Process design is vital, the key principles being the involvement of key executives and early commitment, the development of an integration plan to ‘hit the ground running’ and the creation of tight control procedures.

During the integration process, it is important that a holistic view of all potential elements of the change process is taken, particularly the understanding of the relationship between corporate vision, skills, incentives, resources and supporting action plans.

In our experience, to manage risks and underpin benefits it is important to:

  • Hit the ground running with a detailed structure and plan – speed is everything
  • Appoint a dedicated integration team comprised mainly of your own people
  • Engage the people early in the process
  • Deal with difficult issues early
  • Be decisive
  • Manage the hard and soft issues together
  • Give the people time, space and support to adjust
  • Test the mood and temperature as you go
  • Communicate, communicate, communicate
Key to the success of integration projects is the development of close working relationships with the Managing Director/CEO and functional heads. Frequently we find ourselves in the area of conflict and boundary management, where we assist the MD/CEO in the facilitation of solutions. In addition to the areas of project management, cost and benefit management, analysis and on going day to day involvement, understanding the mood and temperature of the staff is key. It is in this area that we have been further able to add value to the integration process, and in particular by being able to obtain bottom-up views, the outputs from which have proved to be invaluable to the business leaders.
Brooklands Consulting Group is a member of The British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.
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