Successful post-merger integration

Many mergers run into considerable implementation issues in the months after they are launched. Despite great promise, mergers often fail to produce a consistent whole or to realize announced synergies. Even marriages as sensible as that between Ford and Jaguar or Sony and Columbia Pictures did not live up to the hopes that were placed in them.

Merging two companies is incontestably a difficult challenge. Many different initiatives must be conducted simultaneously. The management team must lead a profound transformation while preserving the current business and managing the culture shock between employees from different worlds – all of this while under pressure to produce short-term results.

How to surmount this challenge? What key principles can guide executives confronted with such high stakes? The books we have selected recommend three fundamental rules of conduct:

– Assert strong leadership as soon as the deal is announced.

– Focus integration efforts on essential issues.

– Actively manage the cultural dimension.