Mergers & Acquisitions

Hi community! 

Had a good conversation yesterday with a peer that is undergoing an integration from an acquisition his company did over a year ago. This company's leadership chose to wait one year after acquisition before making changes to the acquired organization. So the question came up, is it better or not to wait a year before making any changes to an acquired organization and let the dust settle before introducing integration activities. 

I have my thoughts on this and would love to hear others input on it.

Do you recommend change right after acquisition or wait? (What would you advise executives to consider when making this decision?)

What do you see as the pros and cons of starting integration activities right away versus down the road? 

What have you experienced that you would tell leaders to 'watch out' for in either scenario? 

Looking forward to your insights! 

Hi community! 

Had a good conversation yesterday with a peer that is undergoing an integration from an acquisition his company did over a year ago. This company's leadership chose to wait one year after acquisition before making changes to the acquired organization. So the question came up, is it better or not to wait a year before making any changes to an acquired organization and let the dust settle before introducing integration activities. 

I have my thoughts on this and would love to hear others input on it.

Do you recommend change right after acquisition or wait? (What would you advise executives to consider when making this decision?)

What do you see as the pros and cons of starting integration activities right away versus down the road? 

What have you experienced that you would tell leaders to 'watch out' for in either scenario? 

Looking forward to your insights! 

Hi Leslie, 

Really good questions you've posed here!

In my experience, we 'always' want to integrate sooner rather than later, and usually do. However, timing depends on a number of deal factors. If it's a bolt on acquisition, we'll move them in as soon as possible. Renewal seasons and other business activities can influence this also because we need to be sure we don't disrupt things so much we lose the value we just gained. On the flip side, we've had acquisitions of tech startup types of companies completely unlike us where we've done little to no integration sometimes for years. If we had integrated them soon after acquiring, we'd have risked crushing their culture and watching key talent supporting the platform walk out the door. To arrive at the right decision, leadership needs to understand the risks and opportunities, synergies and dyssynergies of a fast or slow strategy matching what the deal model requires. Whatever the integration strategy, honesty and transparency in communications is crucial. Please, don't tell people nothing will change. Even if integration is in the distance, there will inevitably be some amount of changes coming before then. Create and maintain trust now to serve you in integration, especially when resistance is expected.

Does this resonate or are you thinking differently? I'd love to know.

Becky

Hi community! 

Had a good conversation yesterday with a peer that is undergoing an integration from an acquisition his company did over a year ago. This company's leadership chose to wait one year after acquisition before making changes to the acquired organization. So the question came up, is it better or not to wait a year before making any changes to an acquired organization and let the dust settle before introducing integration activities. 

I have my thoughts on this and would love to hear others input on it.

Do you recommend change right after acquisition or wait? (What would you advise executives to consider when making this decision?)

What do you see as the pros and cons of starting integration activities right away versus down the road? 

What have you experienced that you would tell leaders to 'watch out' for in either scenario? 

Looking forward to your insights!