Why Deals Fail and How to Rescue Them: M&A lessons for business success

by Anna Faelten, Michel Driessen, Scott Moeller

Mergers and acquisitions are part of the fabric of business and economic life: they help drive growth in companies of all sizes. Most executives will at some point in their careers experience a takeover, as buyer, seller or intermediary. Yet, despite M&A's obvious attractions, deals often fall short of expectations and, in extreme cases, can go disastrously wrong, with devastating consequences.

From their unique perspective as practitioners and researchers, Faelten, Driessen and Moeller have seen it all when it comes to M&A, and they've used this experience to develop their Three Big Mistakes of Deal-Making. Using case studies from a wide range of companies, many household names (Diageo, BMW, Microsoft, Kraft, HP and even Manchester United), and for deals ranging from the highly to the less successful to the downright questionable, Why Deals Fail offers both a commentary on the inexorable tendency for companies to merge, for good or ill, and a guide to the benefits and pitfalls of M&A as a growth strategy.

The result is a fascinating insight into why some deals work and why others go awry for anyone interested in how the corporate world works, or contemplating or facing a merger or acquisition themselves.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business

225 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 29, 2016

Reviews

[Santosh Bhat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers the various stages of M&A deals starting from pre-deal due diligence tips to deal-making dos and donts and post-deal blueprints.
Peppered throughout with case studies of both varieties - deals which succeeded and deals which failed - sometime spectacularly.
Unfortunately the part in which I was really interested in and the one where my work lies in - The post deal integration, especially the crucial 100 day post merger period - was covered in a single chapter with not enough examples.
This is the period where, if the integration blueprint is executed well, ensures that the planned synergies, revenue and cost, flow in and validates the merger.
For this, I think I must look elsewhere and the References section unfortunately just shows 2 books, which look to be obscure as they are are not indexed in Goodreads either.
For a casual reader interested in reading on the behind-the-scenes of M&A deals - this is a breezy enough read.

[Marius Ciuzelis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book circles around the three big mistakes in dealmaking - planning, communication and people. All three authors are practitioners in the field and share their valuable insights, tips and recommendations when discussing the major public M&A deals of the last decades. However, I lacked more in-depth research and analysis of the deals discussed and rated 4 out of 5.

[Breatheaworld · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great examples of Mergers and Acquisitions, followed by the dos and don'ts.

[Jordi Caballero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend this book to students or professionals who want to better understand the world of M&A. It summarizes very well the whole deal process with examples of relevant companies and provides interesting insights and data with references to studies for those interested in going deeper into the topic. Some knowledge of finance is certainly welcome but it is not a technical textbook, a little business acumen is more than enough to understand it and enjoy it.