June 30, 2010
World Cup Lessons for Newly Acquired Entities
“Managing a game's opening minutes without surrendering a goal comes with maturity and experience.”
This is a quote from USA Today’s analysis of the U.S. soccer team’s 2-1 loss to Ghana, but it could just as easily be a statement on the critical nature of ensuring a strong start after a portfolio company or bolt on acquisition.
According to USA Today’s commentary, the largely young U.S. team was plagued throughout the World Cup tournament with a tendency to let their opponents score first, often before the first 15 minutes of the match had elapsed. And once those opponents snagged an early upper hand, they held on, allowing the U.S. a lead for just three of 390 minutes of total playing time.
Similarly, in business, newly acquired entities may lack sophistication in sales, finance or operations processes, and fall short of financial targets in the first few months of new ownership. Further, giving up this early lead can make a long-term win at growth more difficult.
CMF’s post transaction FORWARD program is built around our philosophy of “Good Starts Lead to Good Finishes” for new acquisitions; FORWARD is designed to strengthen financial information infrastructure and reporting capability to quickly resolve deal matters, ensure performance visibility, and establish optimal relationships with new ownership for early success. With a good defense early in the game, management at newly acquired entities won’t fall behind and face a formidable struggle back to get the win.
Posted by Application Administrator at 06/30/2010 08:20:20 AM |