Smarter Acquisitions [antikvár]

Prefacea iiiicquisitions are widely used for pursuing growth. But performance is decidedly mixed. Some do well, especially when undertaken by com-kpanies with experience and dedication to rigour and hard work. But a great many fail. There is thus a real and widespread need for a methodical and disciplined approach.The Making Successful Acquisitions course at the Ashridge Strategic Management Centre has worked well for over a decade. It views the acquisition process as a series of ten steps, which collectively cover everything that needs to be done for success. It deals with the entire process, from getting strategic thinking clarified and identifying targets through to integrating the new company. An orderly framework of this sort will help managers to do a better job of a most difficult and challenging task. We thought it would be useful to structure a book about acquisitions around these ten steps.We also thought it useful to present acquisitions in the current context. We believe it particularly important to take note of the private equity industry and to learn lessons from the way it operates. We also felt it necessary to explain why acquisitions fail, so that warning signs can be recognized and pitfalls avoided.Learning how successful practitioners operate, avoiding the classic and recurring mistakes in this area, and proceeding methodically and with discipline is, we feel, the key to beating the odds. We have written this book with these ideas in mind. We hope you find them useful and wish you every success in using them.