How Culture impacts M&A in an International Setting - Podcast with Robert Heaton
Show Notes:
Culture is the whole set of behaviors combined to exhibit themselves as the way the organization behaves both internally as well as externally. In most cases, it is run by the senior leadership at the top, the way they run the business is also strengthened by the way it gets absorbed by the rest of the organization and the way they act.
Culture is made of multiple building blocks. It is a set of behavior styles and principles. Due to FDA regulations, industries like pharma have very stringent requirements and as a result, it takes time for decision-making. On the other hand, engineering industries have little less stringent requirements and that allows quicker decision-making.
Another challenge with culture is that organizations have a director of sales, and a director of HR but do not have a director of culture. Historically, companies have treated this touchy-feely topic as part of the HR (Human Resources) function. And in M&A, functions go about doing functional integrations. And as a function, there are several serious, more important functional topics even for HR that culture gets relegated to a lower priority.
Culture is such an important part of M&A integration but the way modern-day leaders are educated i.e. focus on financial performance and numbers that culture is never given importance. So, unless you are exposed to executive leaders who make culture a central theme like Jack Welch, it is unlikely to feature as one of the central themes of an M&A.
PROMISE framework developed by Fifth Chrome which has 7 elements mentioned. And the importance on how do build a balanced approach to those 7 elements during a cultural integration in M&A.
Robert Heaton is a Technology Industry veteran and Sales Enablement specialist with Tier 1 global experience across EMEA, North America, and APJC. Extensive Post M&A integration and Divestment expertise. Consulting advisory in enabling technology to drive business outcomes, business performance improvement, business incubation, and business systems & process improvement.
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Hosted by Anirvan Sen, CEO of Fifth Chrome, and Anahita Sen, Co-Facilitator of Fifth Chrome Podcasts
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This interview is part of a series run by Fifth Chrome, an business strategy advisory, and training company specializing in M&A, Integration, and Business Transformations.
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Books mentioned:
