This book shows how today's leading corporations use mergers and acquisitions as a competitive weapon. Mergers and acquisitions are designed to build market leadership and create long-term value - in theory, anyway. "M&A from Planning to Integration" provides complete guidelines for ensuring these optimistic theories become reality, and outlines a systematic plan for developing, implementing, and monitoring a successful M&A deal. Examples from companies including Cisco Systems, GE, Microsoft, and others reveal M&A strategies that have worked in the real world, illustrate the book's concepts in action, and help you apply those concepts and strategies to your own company.Covering each step, from identifying a promising target to managing the post-merger transition, this comprehensive book details: six pre-deal techniques for boosting the odds of a successful merger; methods for performing due diligence to ensure appropriate legal and tax structures; and, strategies to confront and overcome legacy issues during the integration process. Is your company ready to pursue a strategic acquisition? Do you currently find yourself the target of a potential acquirer? Let "M&A from Planning to Integration" provide you with the tools you need to successfully guide your organization through both sides of the M&A equation. In 1970, Ted Turner merges his father's small-time billboard company with the publicly traded operator of an Atlanta television station. Turner uses this new access to the capital markets to build cable television pioneer Turner Broadcasting.In 1996, Quaker Oats pays $1.7 billion for specialty beverage producer Snapple. A little more than two years later, debilitating losses and miscalculations force Quaker to sell Snapple for $300 million - less than 20 per cent of what they had paid. How can acquiring companies experience the success of Ted Turner, while avoiding the disaster of Quaker Oats' Snapple acquisition? "M&A from Planning to Integration" provides in-depth analysis and guidance for each stage of the M&A transaction.This step-by-step guide to 'doing the deal' is built around the authors' innovative "M&A Strategy Guide", a walkthrough of a typical negotiation, which features unique tools including: The acquisition scorecard - an objective, empirical process that gives potential acquirers a broad understanding of the overall health of an enterprise; The acquisition feedback loop - techniques for the acquiring company to establish an ongoing learning program, and apply previous M&A lessons to future acquisitions; Valuable, practical appendixes - a sample confidentiality agreement, due diligence checklist, strategies for valuation and protection of a company's intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets, and more. Mergers and acquisitions are among the business world's most dramatic, attention-grabbing operations. But behind each flashy headline lies a stark reality: The devil is in the details, and the success or failure of any M&A depends on effective execution of the deal's numerous finer points. Let "M&A from Planning to Integration" introduce you to the multiple factors that signal the potential for a successful deal, as it provides you with hands-on guidelines for addressing the particulars and building shareholder value with every merger or acquisition.