The Art of M&A Strategy: A Guide to Building Your Company's Future Through Mergers, Acquisitions, and Divestitures

Seize the competitive advantage with today's most powerful strategic tool-M&A"Given the influence of technology, globalization, and regulatory change, M&A will continue to shape our industries. For most companies, therefore, the consideration of M&A in strategy is now fundamental."-from the Introduction to Part IThe Art of M&A Strategy is exactly what you need to build mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures into your overall business strategy-to make M&A a competitive advantage and avoid landing on the long list of M&A failures.Experts in the field of M&A, Smith and Lajoux demystify this otherwise complex subject by taking you through the types of M&A strategy and the key steps to successful M&A strategy development and implementation. The Art of M&A Strategy is conveniently organized into three sections:Part I presents a range of possible corporate strategy situations and provides the role and rationale for M&A in each, such as building and managing a portfolio, participating in industry consolidation, spurring corporate growth, and using acquisitions to create "real options."Part II outlines how to determine the role of M&A in your strategy-taking into consideration industry context, competitive imperatives, and strategy options-and explains how to find and screen partners, decide whether to buy or sell, and engage the board of directors in M&A decisions.Part III covers M&A as a sustained corporate program, particularly in the context of international growth, outlining the most strategic aspects of post-merger integration, describing how to use advisors throughout the process, and examining core competencies required for successful M&A programs.The authors illuminate the purpose and process of applying M&A with real-world success stories involving Cisco, GE, Google, and many other companies that have leveraged M&A for strategic success. Use The Art of M&A Strategy to create a powerful strategy position for success in today's changing business environment and to seize and hold competitive advantage.