M&A Integration

Brooklands Investor Support has extensive experience in project management of business integration. We are acutely aware of the synergy trap whereby too many organisations often fail to realise the targeted benefits and shareholder value.

In our experience the detail behind a strategic course of action, i.e. “how will we do it” is often not fully considered or thought through until the planning of implementation, way after decisions have been made. The ‘what’ is generally understood, but the ‘how’ and the ‘who’ seem to be overlooked, possibly because it’s all too easy to write a plan but much more difficult to make it happen.

These 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 factors that influence the degree of success, including:

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, key 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, it is important to understand the mood and temperature of the staff. In particular, our ability to obtain bottom-up views gives invaluable outputs to the business leaders.