J. Neely

NGOs have achieved incredible impact to date, laying the foundation for change, however the issues they are looking to solve are increasingly complex. Read how #MergersandAcquisitions can help your #NGO evolve to deliver the next generation of value.

Companies around the world have weathered a year of M&A extremes. Our new Accenture Strategy research shows that companies who place early, significant emphasis on technology during a merger or acquisition are delivering greater shareholder returns.

M&A is an opportunity to map a new organization and shift talent for more innovation. By leading with the people side of the equation, companies are getting to transformation and growth sooner. Here's how some leaders have used analytics to their best advantage.

Digital technologies like artificial intelligence and advanced analytics can help organizations to accelerate their pace and expand their insights quickly—advantages that are especially crucial in times of rapid change. These technologies can transform the M&A process and deal cycle.

Companies that pursue M&A during uncertain times outperform those that do not, according to the data. Here's how to proceed in the "never normal."

The COVID-19 crisis is extraordinary in both its humanitarian and economic impact, but history suggests how M&A will play out. The M&A market contracts, but companies that make M&A moves typically outperform those that do not. Forward-thinking leaders need to act now to rebalance for risk and liquidity, while assessing opportunities for resilience and growth coming out of the downturn.

Traditionally, companies that have acquired others or merged have done so to drive synergies, acquiring targets similar to their own organization. But, digital deals—fast gaining M&A share—are different. In a digital deal, the acquiring company pursues technologies or capabilities it does not possess.

The rise in digital deals indicates many large organizations are realizing organic growth will not give them the rapid rise in digital capabilities they desire. They pursue these… Show more

Traditionally, companies that have acquired others or merged have done so to drive synergies, acquiring targets similar to their own organization. But, digital deals—fast gaining M&A share—are different. In a digital deal, the acquiring company pursues technologies or capabilities it does not possess.

The rise in digital deals indicates many large organizations are realizing organic growth will not give them the rapid rise in digital capabilities they desire. They pursue these capabilities with dogged determination because digital fuels new business growth, the Holy Grail of today’s activist shareholders.

Without continued new business growth, obsolescence looms. With it, the sky is the limit.
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Supersized deals are helping the CPG sector respond to growth challenges.

As they look to enhance digital capabilities through mergers and acquisitions, traditional companies have to heed a new set of dating rules.

Focusing on targets that leverage one's key capabilities provides the greatest chance of M&A success.

To the outside world, deal making in the technology sector can often appear irrational, exuberant, and even insane. In what other industry would a five-year-old startup with reported revenues of US$10 million and fewer than 100 employees garner a $22 billion price tag? But for established technology firms, the only thing worse than paying too much for a promising tech startup is failing to pay enough to acquire it. The unusual nature of deal making in the technology sector, particularly deals… Show more

To the outside world, deal making in the technology sector can often appear irrational, exuberant, and even insane. In what other industry would a five-year-old startup with reported revenues of US$10 million and fewer than 100 employees garner a $22 billion price tag? But for established technology firms, the only thing worse than paying too much for a promising tech startup is failing to pay enough to acquire it. The unusual nature of deal making in the technology sector, particularly deals involving headline-grabbing transactions such as Facebook’s WhatsApp purchase and Microsoft’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype in 2011, demands a closer look. How should company leaders consider the value creation potential inherent in such deals? And how can they manage integration to ensure success and avoid destroying value? To get a handle on the megadeal universe, we examined 131 technology deals of at least $1 billion in size made over the past five years, with a collective value of $388 billion. Show less

Today’s activist shareholders are ramping up pressure on companies and their boards to maximize value. A number of activists have advocated the divestiture or break-up of one or more business lines as a way to unlock shareholder value. In this paper we take a hard look at a number of important questions for any company that finds itself the object of a shareholder activist’s advances.

Faced with new and challenging market forces, food companies are changing their strategic approach by focusing on capabilities to drive how they organize and operate their businesses. For winning companies, this focus on capabilities is informing their growth path, including their approach mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures.

Companies in the consumer packaged goods industry face a number of challenges: capturing growth in emerging markets, staying nimble, and capitalizing on digital technologies. To succeed in such a complex environment, the traditional reliance on benchmarks is not enough. Instead, companies should adopt a five-step approach to organizing for growth and profitability

Upstarts are gaining market share across consumer packaged goods categories. Here’s how incumbents can respond.

How large consumer packaged goods companies can leverage the winning strategies of small players.

To outperform their rivals, private equity firms will need to enhance their ability to spur organic growth in the companies they own. (And public companies will need to follow.)