[Necole Ezell]

In your organization is acquisitions treated as a project which loses focus once the acquisition is complete or is it treated as a capability with a focus on continuous improvement?

[Alison Wills]

Because growth through acquisitions is one of our corporate goals, acquisitions are treated as a capability with a focus on continuous improvement. We utilize lessons learned as a means of identifying improvement opportunities, which provides us the basis for our focus when we are in between acquisitions.

[DDLAN]

In our organisation acquisitions often are done for human capital, talent that would be very hard to hire-in from other organisations who are similarly ‘mission-driven.’

Acquiring a company with less than 10 employees in order to create a deeper / stronger team is often a cost-effective strategy. Rather than try to hire for a myriad of 5-10 roles, targetting small SMEs can be a successful approach.

[Necole Ezell]

@DDLAN, What is an awesome strategy! Finding SME’s is often a challenge. Thanks for sharing.

[Lindsey LeClair]

Absolutely a capability – that’s why my fellow senior leaders and I are taking courses with IMAA!

[Camilo Franco]

This is a great question. I think there is space for both, but all of this depends on your acquisitive approach. Currently my employer is acquiring for key capabilities that provide additive value to our people and products, and thus this has been much more of a capability approach.

[Gauri Gupta]

Hello Nicole. This is an excellent question and the answer to this lies in the strategic vision and aspiration of the Company. If a Copmpany is undertaking a one-off acquisition, it would most likely be treated as a Project. However if the Company’s strategic aspiration is to grow inorganically through M&A, then it would need to look at this as a capability to be developed and improved on an ongoing basis.

[Tina McCuen]

We have treated the functional integration (G&A and Back office) as a project and the strategic integration as a capability. In the first year we completed the functional integration and are working on the capability; merging and elevating our brand, message, joint offerings in an effort to realize increased value and synergies.

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