These leading firms have strategies in place and leaders do not have to be convinced of the need for this work but are About the types of transactions in the focused on the extent and timing of the initiatives, depending group’s discussion on the deal. However, less experienced acquirers find that The discussion is centered on bigger firms buying smaller they need to build a solid business case for this work. firms with an emphasis on “talent” based deals, meaning The principles to follow are to develop strong business deals where the people at a target are deemed the most reasons for working on culture, grounded in the phases important asset, among all the other assets at a target. within the deal life cycle and supported by the facts and data For most buyers, the deal strategy centers on acquiring that can stand up to any challenges or questions. Develop a to expand their capabilities (also known as “scope deals” framework that captures the essential features of culture that in M&A circles). can be understood by leaders, and mapped to a specific goal We did not consider any transaction that transformed a or risk, and focus on the benefits of the work but avoid the company to such an extent that creating a “new” culture, pitfall of hunting for a specific financial ROI. or third culture was required. While these transactions do happen, they are a very small percentage of actual deals. Likewise, large industrial deals, and mega-mergers, while discussed within the group, are not the focus of this paper. The consensus is that the size, scale, and global scope of these deals made it difficult to incorporate the We needed an ‘end-to-end’ cultural approaches discussed here early, and that there were approach. An approach which many other “assets” in the combining firms, well beyond connects all the phases and where the just talent and employees. decisions and output from one phase Finally, the issue of growth or erosion of shareholder forms the input for the next phase. value as a specific goal, as seen through buyer stock Truly anchoring the work around the price changes, is not typically a goal of talent-based practical realities and constraints of deals and was not a factor in our analysis. In contrast, putting a deal together, using the total larger deals lend themselves better to share price deal life cycle and the specific phases, comparisons with peer companies, since this data is and the issues and risks appropriate to publicly available and can then be analyzed by consulting firms and academics alike. each phase of this cycle. And starting this at the beginning, deal origination.” However, the general principles reviewed here can be adjusted and applied in varying “doses” to most deals. Corporate development leader Building the business case for culture in M&A 11