Creating value through acquisitions

• How to make acquisitions part of strategic development and create value?
• Why are so many acquisitions disappointing?

Managing acquisition decision making

• What strategic assessment is feasible, given time and access constraints?
• How to handle financial valuation?
• Negotiation skills and tactics: what are the key lessons?
• Should you have a corporate acquisition function? What role should it have?
• How to run acquisition teams?

Managing acquisition integration

• How to balance autonomy with integration?
• How to manage the interface between both organisations?
• How to manage the immediate post-acquisition stage?
• How to create the hard and soft benefits?
• How to align internal and external communication?

Beyond the acquisition: The challenge of strategic assembly

• How to surpass the competition with an acquisitive strategy?
• How to move from acquisitive development to integrated management?

Group and plenary discussions

Case discussions in small groups, and plenary reporting are the most important pedagogical methods of the course. A typical half-day is divided into three parts - individual study, small group discussions and classroom work with one or more faculty members.

Learning by sharing and exchanging

The exchange of experience in acquisitions developed over time by participants of different fields and nationalities is a great benefit of the programme. To foster such interaction, real life situations are discussed in small groups, then debated in plenary sessions, occasionally in the presence of the very managers involved.

World-class faculty research and hands-on experience

The Strategic Issues in Mergers and Acquisition faculty is led by Philippe Haspeslagh. As co-founder of a management buy-out firm, his experience not only covers strategic acquisitions but also the discipline of financial buyers. Most material and cases used during the programme are based on the faculty’s own research and practice.