The latest in our series of Agile Gorilla Podcasts where we talk through a deal of interest. In this episode, we talk through the challenges of leadership in a cross border transaction, dealing with the regulators, and where to focus. Let me know what you think! https://theagilegorilla.com/podcast/2023/9/15/12-style-vs-substance-at-essilorluxottica
Afternoon all, this week Abhay Pande, David Boyd and I talk about some recommended ‘light’ reading for any aspiring transformation director, CEO, or entrepreneur engaging in the Mergers & Acquisition world. We cover everything from applied strategy to behavioural economics and the challenge of change. Have a read, let us know what you’d include on your list, and give us your thoughts. https://theagilegorilla.com/podcast/2023/7/20/11-recommended-reading
Please indulge me for a moment as I look back at the last year following the publication of my book, ‘Save the Silver Bullet…The small steps to successful transformation’. It has been an extraordinary time for me with opportunities to speak to global and local organisations, industry bodies and at major conferences on the drivers of successful transformation. I’ve been fortunate enough to spend some time with wonderful people around […]
The latest podcast in the Agile Gorilla Collective series. This week Abhay, David and I talk about the dynamics of Deepmind and Google Brain coming together, what the key challenges for Demis Hassabis and Jeff Dean are in terms of leadership and change management, the competitor landscape and the potential pace of change required, It is a fascinating transaction, not only because of the sudden awareness through ChatGPT of the […]
Two interesting tales of failure this week. The first, the sell off of Worldpay from FIS following a disastrous integration has that rare commodity in any form of transformation programme, a counter factual with the acquisition of First Data by FISERV happening at the same time with similar market condition..but a dramatically different result. The second following our earlier podcast on Project Everest is a little summary on the break […]
The latest in our series of Agile Gorilla Collective podcasts. This time we talk about the extraordinary phenomenon of Broadcom, global software business which is hitting the headlines with a bid for VMWare. We talk about Hock Tan, the Malaysian American CEO and founder, his style of leadership and approach to acquisition and integration, the combination of a Warren Buffet and PE type approach to doing deals, and the future […]
Has the idea of growth through M&A finally been proven to be fundamentally bust or can we start to differentiate between those that are likely to fail and those that might succeed? Are there indicators which you might look for to identify potential success? I’ve been thinking about what might feature in those indicators….here’s my list: Personal track record of complex transformation (ideally in remedial situations) within the leadership and […]
Over the next six weeks, I will be publishing a series of interviews which I and a friend of mine, Abhay Pande, conducted whilst based in Singapore. These interviews were born of a shared interest and desire to get beyond the myth and legend of Asian corporate culture and business practice and actually get some insights from Asian leaders that we have in our network. The facts are plain enough. […]
Dear friends (those of you who have signed up to this blog are almost inevitably that!), it’s been a while and I realise that I have broken the cardinal rule of blogging… that is regular, predictable and interesting pieces of short, concise and opinion filled content! Many of you will know that I and my family have been through a process of ‘re-potting’ as it’s described these days…a return to […]
With many thanks to my good friend, Alastair Campbell, for an impromptu conversation this week, I wanted to raise an interesting issue. Do the principles of anchoring apply to companies as much as they apply to individuals? To remind you, the concept of anchoring is based on the short circuit in our brain which applies a correlation to unrelated facts / opinions and thereby can make us make some assumptions […]
At the risk of sounding trite, the opportunities for successful acquirers have never been as great as they are now nor the risks higher! The market generally views with suspicion those who would target growth through deals as their primary vehicle (the Valeant and SunEddison story is another in the litany of M&A disasters…see here for my take on it) but for those who do it well, the leverage of […]
We are living in a period of reversals….for most of our lives, decisions have been made in the West and implemented (with mixed success) in the East. From outsourcing shared services to the Philippines and South Asia, to banks developing global platforms by buying local and regional businesses across Asia, to the great manufacturing shift to China and more recently to Vietnam, the emphasis on delivery has the remit of […]
Think about a recent acquisition that you were involved in. Having accessed the business in the post completion period, which of the following assets proved to be more valuable: The physical assets: Intellectual property, technology platform, operating infrastructure, plant and equipment, inventory / working capital, cash in the bank. The employee assets: innovators, R&D experts, operations managers, leaders, customer facing relationship managers, sales people, ‘historians’ (those who understood the context […]
Large consulting firms buying / investing in small specialists Telecommunications giants buying / investing in tiny adtech ventures Banks and insurance companies buying / investing in owner managed fintech businesses Once again we are on the crest of a wave of mergers and acquisitions whereby the very large swallow the very small. I’m not at all confident that we won’t have the same result the last time this happened…in the […]
I’ve posted previously on the futility of the classic organisational structure analysis when it comes to M&A (you’ll find the link here). A good friend and ex-colleague came back to me with an excellent challenge…easy to poke holes in it but what’s the solution? Let me respond and come up with some ideas on how to do this more effectively given the constraints of an M&A process pre announcement, notably: Limited access to […]
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the conditions you might look for as a lead indicator for potentially successful M&A processes (find the article here). This week, the case for the serial acquirer was once again knocked back as the two of the leading proponents for an inorganic growth strategy failed. In SunEdison’s case, filing for bankruptcy whilst for Valeant, the wholesale change of the board and I would […]
…no matter how much you vigorously combine them, they eventually separate out again. It’s a nice analogy but why? Why is it so hard to successfully translate strategy into integration? Why do those who lead / create strategy well struggle so badly with integration? Why does a set of activities which by their very nature are iterate, continue to be linear? One of the joys of my work is that I meet […]
Let me tell you a story about a small professional services business acquisition involving two similar sized businesses operating in related ends of the market. The steering committee for the integration included anyone with a ‘C” in his / her title…the cost from an hourly charge-out rate perspective around the table was considerable as was the intellectual firepower! This was the third meeting of that group and I was somewhat […]
Anyone you know who hasn’t been through a deal of some kind? I thought not…even those who work in the public sector will have had some strategic transformation thrust upon them. It’s a part of corporate life, whether you’re a senior stakeholder or an entry level employee.…and what has their experience been like, do you think? Positive…’I’ve learned from the experience and my career has been enhanced’ Neutral…’It’s only affected […]
What happens when the deal you’ve been banking on is pulled “Investors should worry whenever bosses and bankers succumb to deal-fever, since so many corporate transactions end up destroying value. The latest crop has some of the tell-tale signs of danger: high ego, high price and over-confidence.” You’re probably not surprised to hear that this is a quote from the FT…as relevant today as it was when it was written, […]
Inarticulate ramblings of a management consultant 