A Comprehensive Guide to Mergers & Acquisitions: Managing the Critical Success Factors Across Every Stage of the M&A Process

5. Synergy Potential and Realization

Introduction

Synergy potential is the primary reason voiced by managers who explain the rationale for the M&A that they are performing. However, the high percentage of failures of M&As indicates that the declared synergy in many mergers was either an illusion and was not appropriately identified, or the integration program was not properly implemented and therefore was not realized. This chapter describes the different areas of synergy and thus enables evaluation and focus of the management on the true potential of synergy. In addition, several sections elaborate on knowledge transfer as a growing source of synergy in M&As. Finally, this chapter proposes a method that facilitates the identification and analysis ...