Treating integration as ‘just another project’ is unlikely to be enough to deliver the results you are looking for. But when you dig beneath the factors driving integration success or failure – even those in which the ‘softer’ issues predominate – you find some core elements that any project manager will recognise.

Why do so many restructuring initiatives fail? The problems sometimes lie not in poor execution, nor even in the implementation of the wrong business model, but rather in a fundamentally flawed business model design process.

While the jury remains out regarding the ultimate impact the current global recession will have on the economies of India, China, and other emerging markets, the evidence suggests that, for the next few years at least, emerging market firms will be at least as aggressive, if not more so, in acquiring struggling Western businesses and assets to further their emergence as global players. How they choose to integrate may demonstrate significant differences to “Western” best practice.

Integration is one of the most comprehensive types of change that any business undertakes, and success is driven by communication, collaboration, compromise, and mutual support; all leading to the famous (and notoriously elusive) ‘1+1=3’. It requires not just a high level of capability and commitment from business leaders as individuals, it also demands strong, highly-performing management teams from the top down.

Mergers and acquisitions often fail because an inappropriate integration strategy is chosen or, worse still, no conscious strategy is adopted, leaving the final form of the combined organisation to shape itself.

A different perspective on how to reduce the impact of post-deal cultural differences before closing the deal

Cultural differences identified pre-deal rarely prevent that deal from completing, even when differences are acknowledged to be significant. When surveyed, most executives believed their deals would go ahead regardless of the degree of cultural fit. Does this mean that we, as integration experts and service providers, still haven’t found the right approaches and tools to help business leaders who see cultural difference as something to keep in mind during integration, but not important enough to influence the deal itself?

All acquisitions begin with widespread confidence that the deal will deliver benefits more quickly and reliably than any other route available at the time. Yet, through market booms and recessions, surveys consistently show success rates remaining stubbornly low. Here’s Beyond the Deal’s thinking on practical steps that can be taken to get back on track.

Distressed Acquisition & Integration – cheap at half the price? is a paper from Beyond the Deal that looks at the opportunities that exist for picking up ‘a bargain’ and examines the potential pitfalls that may exist. It also provides some reflections on what it takes to make a success of a distressed acquisition, with some practical advice.

Connecting the Dots explains the thinking behind Beyond the Deal’s approach to M&A. We believe that using it can make a successful merger and integration more likely to succeed.

This groundbreaking report from Beyond the Deal presents the findings of research conducted with over 100 board members and senior executives of global and mid-market organisations. It highlights ten specific leadership behaviours and conditions that make or break long-term acquisition performance; behaviours that, if adopted and followed consistently, result in a fourfold increase in long-term M&A success.

Some traditional M&A best practices can cause more harm than good. Beyond the Deal presents 15 you may want to reconsider when conducting your next acquisition.

Assessing the genuine long-term performance of M&A is notoriously challenging. Beyond the Deal presents new thinking on a universal, balanced-scorecard approach.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a complete novice or a seasoned veteran, there is always a new twist, or set of circumstances that makes every divestiture uniquely challenging, frustrating, maddening even. But also great fun and certainly career enhancing. That is, if you get it right. In this paper, Toby Tester shares the top 20 questions to ask if your organisation is contemplating a divestiture.

In this article, Stephan Jansen, our German Partner leading Beyond the Deal’s sell-side services, presents the 7 key strategies a seller must consider in order to run a divestiture process that is quick, efficient and likely to complete regardless of the size of the asset. He highlights the main differences and viewpoints of large corporations and SMEs, discusses common mistakes that should be avoided and concludes with the top requirements for divestiture success.

You are about to set off on a journey that will radically change your business – a merger or acquisition. It’s a daunting prospect and for managers and employees alike, the uncertainty leading up to the deal and the integration afterwards is worrying and uncomfortable.

In this paper developed jointly by Beyond the Deal and Connectwell, we highlight ten ‘communication myths’ in M&A, explain the danger in following them and provide some simple ways to ensure that in planning your communications before, during and after the deal you give your acquisition – and the integration that follows it – the best start.