Publications

By Caroline Firstbrook – Accenture More and more companies are looking abroad for acquisition targets or merger partners to help them meet their growth aspirations. While transnational deals are not uniquely prone to disaster, they do offer a different mix of opportunities and risks, which need to be understood and managed if the deals are to be successful. … Read more

By John T. Horn, Dan P. Lovallo, and S. Patrick Viguerie – McKinsey & Company Psychological biases can make it difficult to get out of an ailing business. When General Motors launched Saturn, in 1985, the small-car division was GM’s response to surging demand for Japanese brands. At first, consumers were very receptive to what was billed as “a new … Read more

By Accenture

By Accenture

By Towers Perrin EXECUTIVE SUMMARY More M&A deals are now financially successful, according to research conducted by London’s Cass Business School, in conjunction with Towers Perrin. The recently completed study found that in 2004, companies involved in M&A deals worth more than US$400 million outperformed the market by 7.0%. By contrast, share performance of companies involved in … Read more

By Dave Read and Bob Partridge – Ernst & Young “A World of Opportunity” Today’s dynamic transactions market presents a world of opportunity. As corporations and other investors turn their attention to international opportunities, they are looking beyond traditional markets to achieve high growth and competitive advantage. Ernst & Young’s ‘Cross-border Transactions’ series aims to shed light on the complex … Read more

By Jill Dailey, Ana Dutra and Donna Peters – Accenture After suffering from a post-dot-com era hangover, the global mergers and acquisitions market is thriving again. The marketplace has recently experienced a 38 percent year-over-year increase in global deal volume, with half of the Fortune 500 expecting to participate in merger activity in the coming year. The current focus on growth … Read more

Remember how unpleasant it was the last time you did business with an unprepared seller? Their team was long on data, but short on analysis, with a data room organized to appeal more to lawyers than businessmen. To make matters worse, the seller could not keep up with information requests. And access to management was … Read more

By Deloitte Take even a fleeting look at the issues confronting the Consumer Business industry today and it’s no wonder there’s increased exploration of business combinations or divestitures as possible solutions. As an industry executive, you’re aware of these key obstacles and potential challenges, including: • Difficulty in globalizing operations • Worldwide overcapacity • Continuation of sluggish economic recovery … Read more