From Beginning to Beginning

When I am teaching M&A, I often use the phrase ‘‘from beginning to beginning.’’ I am signaling a difference from the more familiar phrase ‘‘from beginning to end,’’ which suggests that once the deal is signed, the process is over. In my experience, the end of an M&A transaction marks the beginning of a whole new business reality, the merged entity. Integrating two companies always brings challenges, but the more strategically you have executed your acquisition, the more smoothly your integration will go. Remember, meanwhile, that although the close of your acquisition deal is the end of the buying process, it is also the beginning of your new company.

Photo credit: Lubomír Walder via Flickr cc