Beckett Advisors - Brand Alignment

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Organizational Alignment:
Overcoming the "Winners Curse"

For "winning" to occur, it's clear that post-acquisition success depends upon rapid organizational integration and excellence in execution. These issues are normally anticipated but insufficiently planned for in M&A transactions.

To realize the most return on investment from M&A activity, we offer the following checklist for newly merged organizations:

How recently has a customer audit been conducted to ascertain the core values of customers and their relationships to the new organization?
Does a customer-oriented brand promise exist that the newly combined operation can rally around?
If so, has impact of the brand promise upon organizational behavior, performance metrics and bonuses been codified and distributed?
What systems are in place for the new organization to rapidly and positively impact morale?
How has management insured integration from the bottom up in their combined organizations?
How does management insure compliance with new standards, operating systems and performance expectations?

Of the five constituencies to whom it is crucial to communicate a brand, the organization itself--the staff--is the most important.

Unfortunately, 'internal branding' is most often overlooked in the scramble to meet earning expectations following a merger or acquisition. This often-neglected area of brand integrity is essential to organizational alignment, providing the 'bottom up' support, internally generated performance metrics, and organizational 'buy in' for the new reality.

Should you wish to discuss these issues, we welcome your contact.