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Joining Forces
Book

Joining Forces

Making One Plus One Equal Three in Mergers

Mitchell Lee Marks and Philip Mirvis
Jossey-Bass, 1998
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Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Well Structured
  • For Beginners

Recommendation

Many mergers, acquisitions and alliances fail due to lack of preparation before, lack of care during, or lack of focus after the deal. Joining Forces is a sober, to-the-point manual directed at business leaders who want to provoke successful combinations, as well as managers and employees who have to deal with the burdens, both mental and physical, of combinations. For the past decade, corporate America has embraced M&A – often with mixed results – and the consolidation pace seems to be accelerating. But too few people inside and outside of the companies involved understand what the combination process means or how it should be handled. Organizations must be willing to focus on the psychological impacts of a combination on their employees. Joining Forces provides a rough sketch of how this can be accomplished – minus any unnecessary strategic details or legalese. getAbstract recommends this book to executives, managers and employees at every level – all of whom probably will have to face the realities of corporate consolidation some day.

Summary

Combination: The Pros and Cons

A marriage between your company and another entity might produce unfathomable strengths, giving your organization the ability to do things that you could never do on your own. Or it might wrack your company, causing your best and brightest employees to flee, your customers to run for the hills, and your productivity to disappear down the toilet.

Combining your forces with another organization is serious business. First you have to find the right company to join, then you have to finance the merger, and then you have to finance the merger some more. Even if the execution of the deal is flawless, there’s still the pressure of that debt that’s threatening to suck you dry. At the same time, you have to watch your current organization, your current employees and your current customers.

But don’t get discouraged. The right combination, at the right time, managed in the right way could be the best thing that ever happens to your organization. A great combination is based on the idea of productive capacity - that is, on the idea of a more effective and efficient business. You want to find a partner that can help you help yourself. You want...

About the Authors

Mitchell Lee Marks  has worked at the center of some of the largest mergers of the past decade. He currently works as an independent management consultant. He is coauthor of the widely read Managing the Merger with Philip H. Mirvis  Mirvis, who works as an organizational researcher and consultant, has published widely for both professional and academic audiences.

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