Joining Forces: Making One Plus One Equal Three in Mergers, Acquisitions, and Alliances - Hardcover

by Mitchell Lee Marks (Author), Philip H. Mirvis (Author)

"Once business markets stabilize there will be a huge wave of mergers and acquisitions, and businesses will have to be prepared. In this book, the authors (merger and acquisitions experts) have completely revised their groundbreaking work, Joining Forces. They provide a successful M&A framework to help organizations, managers, and employees navigate a merger or acquisition in today's rapidly changing, global climate. This new edition covers all aspects of mergers and acquisitions, addressing the new strategic, human, organizational, and cultural challenges and showing how to develop an ongoing merger mindset"--

Front Jacket

This thoroughly revised and updated edition of Joining Forces offers a proven framework designed to help organizations, managers, and employees confidently navigate a merger or acquisition in today's rapidly changing global climate.

In addition to the standard M&A scenarios like industry consolidations, big companies absorbing small firms, and United States, European, or cross-Atlantic combinations, this revised volume addresses the strategic, human, organizational, and cultural challenges brought on by new types of mergers and acquisitions. It shows how forward-thinking firms like Cisco and Google use alliances and partial ownership as a research and development strategy and take a phased approach to mergers and acquisitions; how companies like Proctor & Gamble, Hewlett Packard, and Unilever do deals to expand their customer base and talent pools; and how Chinese and Indian firms, like Lenovo and Tata, are globalizing by acquiring U.S. and European assets.

M&A experts Mitchell Lee Marks and Philip H. Mirvis share their tested techniques for managing a single combination (how to select a partner, set integration goals, put the companies together, manage cultural clash, and bring people along), and also tools for developing ongoing M&A capability within an organization. This capacity--to conceive, organize, and implement multiple combinations--is a new source of competitive advantage for companies.

This proven resource will help seasoned M&A managers accelerate the process of putting companies together as well as show how to build longer-term resilience in a merged workforce.

With hands-on experience in more than 100 deals over the past 30 years--including some of the most prominent and complex combinations--the authors' observations and practical advice provide executives, managers, and employees with what they need to join forces--successfully.

Back Jacket

If 75 percent of all mergers fail, what makes the other 25 percent succeed?

Mergers, acquisitions, and alliances are more vital today than ever before in driving business success. This indispensible guide offers proven strategies and sound solutions to the multitude of integration issues that inevitably arise, and shows how to create a combined business that meets its strategic and financial objectives, competes better, and offers personal and organizational enhancements. Dubbed "merger mavens" by Fortune magazine, the authors report lessons learned from their experience in over 100 combinations. Executives, managers, and employees alike--in all industries and sectors--will find useful examples, strategies, and tools here.

Praise for Joining Forces

"This book will help both M&A veterans and those new to the game. The authorsprovide great insights into the human, cultural, organizational, and strategic factors that matter in M&A success."--Richard Kovacevich, chairman and CEO emeritus, Wells Fargo & Co.

"Don't commit to the merger or acquisition without them! I have personally witnessed how hard it is on everyone--employees, shareholders, communities, and especially executives--to work through an improperly managed merger. I have known Marks and Mirvis for almost twenty-five years and the only mistake our organization made was that we did not consult them soon enough. Their new book reflects unequalled experience and intellect. Don't merge, acquire, or be acquired without it!"--Michael R. Losey, CEO (emeritus), Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM)

"Joining Forces is a terrific resource for managers who want to understand thehuman dynamics of mergers and acquisitions, and a must-read for those who have to lead their companies through one. It is based on the latest research and providespractical insights and advice from authors who know M&A inside out." --Edward E. Lawler III, Distinguished Professor of Business, Marshall School ofBusiness, University of Southern California

Author Biography

Mitchell Lee Marks is an internationally recognized expert on corporate transitions (including mergers, acquisitions, alliances, downsizings, and restructurings), corporate culture, leadership development, and executive teambuilding. He is a member of the faculty of the College of Business at San Francisco State University and leads JoiningForces.org, a change management consulting firm.

Philip H. Mirvis is an organizational psychologist whose research and practice concerns large-scale organizational change, global corporate responsibility, and the changing character of the workforce and workplace. He has been an advisor to companies on five continents and has authored ten books and over 100 scholarly and practitioner articles.