It will come as no surprise to readers of CD Forum that many companies are coming to favor bolt-on deals to transformational transactions. Smaller deals are often less risky, can be easier to manage, and provide a fast and cost-effective means of expanding into new businesses or geographic markets. The flip side, of course, is that doing a lot of little deals can tax even the most well-staffed corporate development office.
McKinsey & Co. principals Robert Uhlaner and Andy West explore the trend toward smaller deals and the challenges it presents in "
Running a Winning M&A Shop" in the latest McKinsey Quarterly. Uhlaner and West offer specifics on how best to organize and manage a corp dev function charged with pursuing a bolt-on strategy. There are nifty charts, too, exploring the short-term and longer-term synergies delivered by different types of deals and the resources required in order to execute on multiple M&A deals. All told, the report covers a lot of ground and is worth a look.
- Suzanne Stevens
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