Successful,Cross-cultural,Merg business, insurance Successful Cross-cultural Mergers and Acquisitions: Step 1

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Strategic relationships between organizations presentspecial considerations including allocating scarce resources and satisfying theneeds of diverse stakeholders. The equation becomes more complex when therelationships involve groups of individuals from different cultural backgrounds. Different customs,values, languages, and time zones are some of the challenges organizations mustovercome to achieve a shared mission. The path to success is both intuitive andsatisfying. The first step toward successful mergers and acquisitions is toSolidify a Worthwhile Common Mission.A Worthwhile Common Mission creates cohesion between groupswith differing values, perceptions, and languages. A Worthwhile Common Missionsupports organizational objectives and unifies across cultures and national boundaries.A well supported shared mission supplies focus, instills purpose, and ralliesindividuals and groups to reach beyond differences.  A unifying mission focuses minds on thegreater good of a shared purpose. Diverse minds with varied approaches to problemsolving are enlisted toward the Common Mission. In order to solidify a Worthwhile Common Mission, you needto first identify a purpose that is worthwhile to both the acquiring and theacquired organization. After identifying a worthwhile common purpose, solidifythe purpose into a mission with sound strategy that supports goals of bothorganizations.IdentifyIdentifying a purpose that is worthwhile for both partiesinvolves answering the question “What is our purpose for working together?”  A worthwhile purpose for entering apartnership supports the overall mission of both organizations. In order toformulate a purpose that supports your overall missions, you first need tounderstand the missions of your individual organizations. Many successful organizations have their long term missionscodified into mission statements, vision statements or both. Corporate missionsare published on company websites, intranets, annual reports and corporatedirectories. Listed below are some examples of mission statements fromprominent organizations:IBMWe strive to lead in the invention, development andmanufacture of the industry's most advanced information technologies, includingcomputer systems, software, storage systems and microelectronics.We translate these advanced technologies into value for ourcustomers through our professional solutions, services and consultingbusinesses worldwide.The Peace CorpsOur purpose is “topromote world peace and friendship….to help the peoples of ….countries andareas in meeting their needs for trained manpowerGEImagination at work. Our people worldwide are dedicated toturning imaginative ideas into leading products and services that help solvesome of the world’s toughest problems.While the missions of large organizations may be articulatedin the form of a mission statement, such is not always the case for smallerentities. If your organizational missions are not clear to you, make it yourtop priority to formulate a clear idea of your missions. With a clearunderstanding of both organizations’ mission, you are then ready to define apurpose for the strategic relationship that supports both missions.A worthwhile purpose has 2 components.First it supports both organizations’ overall missions. Second it fulfills aneed that communicates lasting value across cultures. A strategic alliance witha purpose that supports the corporate mission will ensure legitimacy when budgetsare allocated and ensure the support of stakeholders within both organizations.An alliance with a purpose that has lasting value unites diverse groups acrosscultural boundaries. A worthwhile purpose accomplishessomething of value to both parties. It supplies a need that both groups workingtogether can more efficiently fulfill than one party going it alone. Defining apurpose that fulfills a need at the bottom of a traditional needs hierarchysuch as meeting certain profitability goals is transitory. Long lastingrelationships are built on fulfilling needs that are higher on the needshierarchy and tend toward fulfilling organizational actualization. Like IBM,GE, and The Peace Corps, strive to identify a common purpose that fulfillsactualization goals.A truly worthwhile common purpose is unifying. Employees atall levels understand, identify, and buy into the purpose. When petty disagreementsover procedures occur, a truly worthwhile purpose unifies. Vice Presidentsdisagreeing over territories, Sales Managers disagreeing over commissionstructures, project teams disagreeing over methodology all tend to work outtheir differences and choose the best solution as long as they buy into thecommon purpose.SolidifyAfter identifying a worthwhile purpose, the next step is tosolidify the purpose into a mission by implementing sound strategy. A strategicplan clearly identifies the Who, What, How, How Much, When and Why offulfilling the purpose. Aligning the strategy with internal stakeholders andexternal partners ensures support. Sun Tzu, the Asian military strategist had this to say aboutstrategy: “Strategy without tactics isthe slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise beforedefeat.”Sun Tzu understood that a good strategic plan is essentialto success. Going through the motions without a plan is simply noise – emptynoise preceding defeat. The strategic plan should contain clear measurabledeliverables that satisfy all expectations for the relationship. Timelines andpreliminary resource and budget expenditures should be included. A strategicplan should include the following information:WhatWhat is the purposeof this engagement?WhyWhy is it importantto proceed with this engagement?WhenWhen does thisengagement need to be completed?What is the propertiming to initiate this engagement?WhoWho are thePlayers?Stake HoldersDriversSME (Subject MatterExperts)Impacted partiesHowHow are you goingto execute this engagement?How MuchHow much money willit cost?How much money willyou make?What other benefitsare there?What other costsare there? An ideal strategy defines success, aligns the interests ofdiverse stakeholders, and lends legitimacy to budgets expended and resourcesallocated. A worthwhile common purpose combined with a detailed strategic planbecomes your blue print, your play book. The end is visualized from thestarting gate. The purpose becomes a mission. The mission gives the ProjectManager, the VP, and the Customer Support Representative meaning for theirdaily actions. Culture can be a divisive element. Differences in beliefsand values have caused individuals to refer to other groups as ‘Great Satan’ or‘Evil Empire.’ Cultural intolerance has contributed to much suffering in theworld including genocide, slavery and religious persecution. Culturaldifferences have also contributed to the failure of many promising businessenterprises.  By Solidifying a CommonMission, your chances of a successful cross cultural merger and acquisitionincrease dramatically by ensuring that cultural difference becomes competitiveadvantage.