"Our philosophy is if you're going to have a strong acquisition program, you've always got to be in the market. You've always got to be looking," says Ken Semelsberger, senior vice president of corporate development and treasury. "You can't always dictate the timing of transactions. Things come up all the time, and you've got to be ready. You can't afford to be hot/cold, hot/cold, because good people leave if they have nothing to do or aren't challenged."

Supporting the effort is a 30-person corporate development team, about 10 of whom are focused on executing transactions. The rest focus on finance and strategic planning, often in support of M&A. There are obvious synergies between the groups, says Semelsberger, with the planning people doing much of the up-front deal analytics and helping develop the operating plan for the target, and the finance people figuring out how to pay for the deal.

"I've had treasury responsibility for the last three years. And it makes sense to have responsibility, visibility and insight not only into the financial ramifications of the deal but how you're going to finance it. Where are you going to get the money," says Semelsberger. "We've seen a lot of advantages in having it all under one umbrella."

It helps, too, that Eaton has built solid deal expertise throughout its businesses by rotating high-potential employees into corporate development from the operating businesses, typically for 18-month stints. "The more people you have within the operations who've been through an acquisition before, understand how to evaluate deals and deal with issues that come up, the more successful you're going to be at deals."

Look for more from Semelsberger in our feature on careers in corporate development in the Sept. 22 issue of The Deal newsweekly. - Suzanne Stevens