Mergers

DAVID FUBINI is Director, McKinsey & Company, Boston, USA. COLIN PRICE is a Partner of McKinsey and Company and Director of the London office, and the co-author of several books including the bestseller Straight from the CEO (reissue; Nicholas Brealey, 1998) and Wisdom of the CEO (John Wiley, 2000). He was formerly global head of the Strategic Change consulting practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers and is a regular speaker at international conferences. MAURIZIO ZOLLO is the Shell Fellow in Business and the Environment, and Associate Professor of Strategy at INSEAD. He

'Mergers is a refreshing glimpse into the classic dilemma of making acquisitions that actually work. By shifting the spotlight from integration teams to executive leadership, the authors sketch a smart and yet unexpected playbook of the 5 essential actions that only senior executives can take. A must read for executives at both buyers and sellers.' - Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, S. W. Ascherman Professor of Strategy, Stanford University, Co-author, Competing on the Edge: Strategy as Structured Chaos 'Mergers: Leadership, Performance and Corporate Health is not just for those who are contemplating mergers and acquisitions. There is much in the book that is of value to any business leader looking to improve corporate health. It contains simple but powerful truths about communications, management structure and customer care that we all need to apply.' - John Varley, Group Chief Executive, Barclays Bank PLC 'The authors have combined their professional experience, advising leading CEOs, with a detailed academic understanding of the issues surrounding mergers to produce a provocative guide on how CEOs can move their companies to a higher level of performance through an expansive view of merger integration. It is an approach CEOs will have to emulate as the merger game gets tougher and more expensive and the payback ever more elusive.' - Larry Glasscock, CEO of Wellpoint (largest US health care ensurer) '... this is a thorough analysis that should be required reading for any CEO embarking on any... M&A programme, if they want to improve the probability of success...' - Professional Manager

• The Elusive Healthy Merger Creating the New Company at the Top Communicating the Corporate Story Establishing a New Performance Culture Championing External Stakeholders Fostering Momentum and Learning Shaping Your Leadership Role Works Cited Acknowledgements