Marketing with Smart:ROI

Tail wags dog

Reputation management

Fusing business model with brand strategy

Brand management in higher education

1 + 1 = 3

The best of both worlds

Engaging and embedding internal communications

Enhancing the brand through the IPO maze

Brand Architecture: considerations

1 + 1 = 3

As the mergers and acquisitions market begins to show signs of renewed buoyancy, it's prudent to remember that the successful integration of newly merged businesses is never a certainty.

In fact, during the heady days of the 90's boom, there were as many merger 'failures', as high profile 'successes'. More so if The Economist is to be believed when it concluded that 'study after study of past merger waves has shown that two out of every three deals have not worked'; insights which were echoed from within the Intelligence Unit that 'less than half of those involved in M&A considered them a success in retrospect'. The Sunday Times also weighed in with statistics showing that '61% of deals fail to cover their cost of capital' and 'fewer than 25% generate economic value for the buyer'.

Off the back of these depressing figures sprang a lucrative opportunity for management consultants to market post-merger integration services around the need for newly-formed organisations to focus on achieving clearly measurable critical success factors in finance, process quality, customer satisfaction, growth and innovation, and people commitment.