Strategy: Strategic goals of the two companies must be coordinated. Decisions about the future business model,
                  about the continuation, the merger or the abandonment of business areas, products and brands as
                  well as the type and split of market cultivation are to be made here.

Organisation - Managing Structure:  Definition / implementation of an organizational structure with clear
                  responsibilities and reporting channels are to be determined. Overlaps and double functions are to
                  be avoided. Here, employees and managers are directly affected bs changes and it is important to
                  avoid counterreactions ant eh resulting inefficiencies through professional change management.

HR: In addition to the labor law issues that are already included in the due diligence phase, the announcement
                  of a company takeover often leads to negative reactions from the workforce of a company.
                  Employees fear losing their job or hard-earned privileges and are usually rather skeptical about a
                  takeover. This applies to both, the seller’s company and the buyer’s company. Coordinated and
                  sustainable internal communication across all hierarchical levels is essential, also to avoid rumors
                  and reduce fears.

Culture: The previous identity-creating and stabilizing function of the corporate culture is in danger of being lost.
                  A harmonization of two corporate cultures is already difficult in a national context. If it is a
                  transaction in an international environment, there is another country-specific cultural complexity. The
                  communication and language barrier in international transactions could not be underestimated.
                  Active change management is urgently needed.

External Stakeholders: Target Group-oriented communication with various external stakeholder (customers,
                  suppliers, investors, analysts, media and the general public, …) affected by the takeover. Any
                  “change of control clauses” in the contracts with the stakeholders should be observed. The various
                   interest groups must be informed consistently and in a way that is appropriate for the target group in
                   order not to jeopardize existing or future relationships and to avoid uncertainty.

Synergies: The aim is to leverage synergies. Significant cost synergies can be achieved, for example by merging
                   locations, corporate divisions or merging activities (for example service / spare part business,
                   shared service structures, sourcing, …). If the acquisition focus is less on cost synergies than on
                   growth synergies (expansion of the product portfolio, markets and technologies) then in addition to
                   hard factors such as different legal statutory requirements, soft factors such as language and cultural
                   differences are also important in order to realize the synergies notice.
                   In this context, the fast creation of uniform financial accounting and reporting standards is also of
                   great relevance, so that decisions can be made on a uniform reporting base and a uniform
                   understanding of decisions

Know How: Know-how integration is about making the knowledge of the acquired company accessible to the
                   buying company. On the one hand, the relevant knowledge is documented knowledge can be
                   relatively easy to be transferred. Only legal and tax regulations have to be considered here. On the
                   other hand, the relevant knowledge consists of the skills and know-how of the employees it helps to
                   create a common and agreed understanding of the future cooperation between the two parties.

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Controlling: The post-merger integration process must be accompanied by continuous controlling of the
                   measures decided upon and a final success check. This includes a regular target / actual
                   comparison, which documents the progress of the project and compliance with schedules, budget
                   specifications and resource consumption using status reports and corresponding control indicators
                   and, if necessary, initiates countermeasures.

                   The basis for this is a harmonized and meaningful reporting system, the rapid implementation of
                   which is one of the most important and first measures in the integration process.

Change Management is a major challenge of the post-merger integration process: the PMI process means a
                  significant change in the individual situation for everyone involved. This change triggers fears and
                  reactions. This is how Claes F. Janssen describes it with the „House of Change“ Approach the
                  different phases of a change process that must be gone through in order to be able to successfully
                  implement change in the long term.

 

                  Professional Change management is essential to ensure the long-term success of the PMI process.

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