Mergers & Acquisitions

What steps do you take for your initial assessment for a Change when you are tasked with either a merger or an acquisition?   Is there a difference between the two?  Do you have responsibility to both entities?

Hi Frank! "Assessment" feels ambiguous, but here are some steps and questions that come to mind.

1. Customers, Customer Segments, Customer Experiences (because we start with the customer!): when each company shows these inventories to the other company, where is redundancy, expansion, and "leave as-is?" Does each company's most problematic Customer Experiences (which should imitate siloed Innovation Roadmaps) justify revising the Roadmap to reflect a newly prioritized and optimized bigger picture?
2. Revenue: what cross-selling opportunities might exist between the two companies?
3. Costs: what operations have significant overlap such that merging into fewer workstreams makes sense? Technology is one component of operational redundancy
4. Scorecard(s): comparing respective metrics and what is considered healthy/unhealthy (or red/yellow/green), what conclusions do you draw? What metrics merge versus stay siloed?
5. Roadmaps: in comparing approved, scheduled (in-flight or soon-to-start) innovation workstreams, does the integrated information justify reprioritization or canceling a redundant innovation investment?

For an assessment, yes, I vote both entities. In an assessment (which emphasizes Current State), I shrug whether the transaction is a merger or acquisition. In documenting Future State, dominance and strengths of one company or the other matters a lot in what operations survive and who gets certain assignments.

Hopefully, I'm tracking ok with your question?