I just wrapped up a week in Detroit where I presented at an industry event organized by a major paint manufacturer. I discussed growth strategies in a consolidating industry. We talked about industry evolution and ways to increase the value of your business by taking advantage of the same trends and using the same corporate tools as the large consolidators. It was a great event made even better that I met a number of subscribers face to face (a few special acknowledgments are in the last paragraph).
For all of the negative press Detroit received a few years back as it went through bankruptcy it is really a vibrant city on the rebound If you have not been I highly recommend a visit. While I was in the city I took the opportunity to meet with some of the organizations headquartered in the city. In one meeting I was chatting with a senior VP and the conversation naturally turned to mergers and acquisitions, and inorganic growth. We started talking about what drives successful acquisitions and she immediately brought up culture as a key determinant of success.
She is absolutely right. Culture plays a huge role in the success of an acquisition. The conversation got me thinking about all the other non-financial aspects of an acquisition. So often we focus on the hard numbers, the financial side of the business. But there are a host of “soft” factors that are at least as important as the hard financial aspects of the transaction.
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