Why Are We So Bad At Acquisitions?
Campbell Soup acquired Bolthouse for $1.55 billion in 2012 to enter the fresh food category and earlier this week announced it was divesting of the company for $510m to Butterfly Equity, an LA based PE group. PWC conducted a survey in 2013 of 106 executives at Fortune...
How Do You Decide Which Businesses (or Products) Are Core?
I’m always reading a business book whether I’m traveling or not. It’s been out for a few years now, but I’m enjoying Essentialism – The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. It sets out a strong case for believing “Less is More”. I’m not reviewing the book...
Big Banks Compete For Small Deals – Essential Conclusions for Entrepreneurs
There was a fascinating article in the WSJ today which is worth summarizing for business owners. The article was valuable for entrepreneurs because it brought together some key statistics you should be aware of, and I’ve added a few more to add value and...
Operational Excellence the Key to Successful M&A
Buying Companies Most acquirers embarking on an acquisition are ill prepared to successfully buy another company and integrate it. Research consistently tells us we are weak at this common corporate tactic – buying other companies. Acquisitions are for...
Scaling – Zero-Based Strategy for SMBs (Small and Medium Businesses)
Over the last ten years, to assist owners of businesses, I’ve tried to tackle all aspects of scaling a business, whatever your starting point. We’ve addressed positioning, sales processes, marketing playbooks, product launches, executive compensation, saleability...
A Big Company Challenge – Mentoring Divisional General Managers/Managing Directors
If you are a private company owner CEO, you face enormous challenges to scale your business. I don’t mean just grow. I mean scale. Building control, predictability, alignment and safety into your growth. Successful scaling sees market share growth, margins...
12 Questions Sales Teams Should Ask Marketing
Marketing teams have the skills and knowledge to add great value to their sales teams but often don’t. Whether a sales role is business development, focused on opening up markets, or myopically trained on a few strategic accounts, there is great insight to be...
Do You Know Your Customer?
In the world of Business-to-Business (B2B) almost every sales process, business process or strategic plan is built on the premise that we know our customer. Of course it makes sense. The more we understand our customers the better we are placed to serve them. To...
How to Present Ideas that Change Minds
In business and in life in general, the ability to move people to your point of view is a rare skill. I’m talking about setting out a better way forward that you passionately believe in, that cuts through bias with impeccable logic but addresses the emotion on...Operational Excellence For Exits
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