The Human Side of M & A: How CEOs Leverage the Most Important Asset in Deal Making by Dennis C. Carey, Dayton Ogden, and Judith A. Roland

The Human Side of M & A: How CEOs Leverage the Most Important Asset in Deal Making by Dennis C. Carey, Dayton Ogden, and Judith A. Roland (Hardcover - Mar 11, 2004)

Hardcover: 208 pages

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (March 11, 2004)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0195140966

ISBN-13: 978-0195140965

Other Reviews

"The Human Side of M&A provides a refreshing look at the process of mergers and acquisitions. It focuses on the most important asset in deal making-people...Managers of organizations contemplating M&A, or those who are exploring other ways of connecting with potential partners, will find it informative and illustrative. It is not a book full of fluff or new-age advice about bringing everyone together in a big, happily merged organizational family. It is straight talk that tells top managers to be as attentive to the human side of the deal as they are to the financial side."--Carol M. Sanchez, Academy of Management Executive

"The Darwinian nature of a large scale merger--if correctly executed--can create a tremendous uplift in management talent. This book provides you with a solid game plan on 'how to do it'." --J. P. Garnier, CEO, GlaxoSmithKline

"Good strategy is behind any merger, but great leadership is behind all successful mergers. Having serviced the top management of many, Dennis Carey and Dayton Ogden show how the right culture, right people, and right board are the difference between conception and execution in mergers and acquisitions. The chapter, Improve the Odds, will improve your odds." --Michael Useem, professor and director of the Wharton School's Leadership Center and author of Leading Up and The Leadership Moment

"When you get right down to what makes mergers work in the end--it's getting the people side of the equation sorted out fast. This book provides an extremely helpful framework to manage these issues in ways that will significantly enhance the execution of any M&A transaction." --Paul Hanrahan, President and CEO, AES Corporation

About the Book

There are thousands of mergers every year and some estimates say that two-thirds of them either fail or fall far short of expectations. How can executives keep their merger from becoming a head-on collision? In The Human Side of M&A, Dennis Carey and Dayton Ogden argue that most failed mergers looked good on paper--they made financial and strategic sense--but the highly important human element was neglected or overlooked. In particular, corporate cultures often clash and wreck any chance that the firms will work harmoniously together. The authors, who have worked with many companies in the process of merging, draw on their unique experience to show how to address the human side of a merger, revealing pitfalls to avoid and ways to minimize risk. They describe how to assess the quality of the people to determine who are the best in both firms. They argue that the CEOs need to create a new vision for the combined firm (one that differs from the vision of the original firms). And they stress that it is vitally important to move quickly once the merger is approved so that the firms can hit the ground running on the first official day of operating as a combined company. The book concludes with a rigorous statistical appendix that analyzes some of the most successful mergers of the past ten years, validating the book's underlying theme and conclusions. The numbers of mergers vary from year to year, but the strategy of putting two firms with complementary strategic strengths together will continue into the foreseeable future. This book will help ensure the success of those ventures.

About the Author

Dennis C. Carey is vice chairman of Spencer Stuart, U.S. He has recruited CEOs and directors for many of the largest global companies and has led numerous large-scale merger integration projects. He is the founder of G100 and the CEO Academy, and the coauthor of How to Run a Company.

Dayton Ogden is chairman of Spencer Stuart and previously served for nine years as the firm's chief executive. His search consulting practice focuses on CEO succession and board recruiting for a broad range of international clients. He serves on the board of the American Business Conference and is secretary and a director of Project HOPE. 

The authors are coauthors of CEO Succession (Oxford University Press, 2000)