Five Frogs on a Log: A CEO's Field Guide to Accelerating the Transition in Mergers, Acquisitions And Gut Wrenching Change - Hardcover

Feldman, Mark L.; Spratt, Michael F.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 088730981X ISBN 13: 9780887309816

Publisher: HarperBusiness, 2011

Synopsis

A riddle:
Five frogs are sitting on a log.
Four decide to jump off. How many are left?
Answer: Five
Why?
Because there's a difference between deciding and doing.

Written by Mark L. Feldman and Michael F. Spratt of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Five Frogs on a Log offers readers an entertaining and no-nonsense field guide to the mergers and acquisitions jungle, packed with insight and instruction for executing corporate change and capturing shareholder value. Whether you're buying another company or acquiring a new vision of the future, this book proffers an unconventional perspective and a practical, readily accessible set of solutions to the single greatest challenge facing today's managers: executing rapid transitions ion mergers, acquisitions and gut wrenching change.

Designed for corporate managers and CEOs caught up in the whirlwind of change, every chapter provides accessible ideas and wisdom for navigating the most demanding business transitions. The authors offer a unique hands-on perspective based on their work with top Fortune 500 firms. As they state:

"Increasingly, the companies that win are those that learn faster, act quicker and adapt sooner. They will compress time by making and executing early, informed decisions about economic value creation, ruthless prioritization and focused resource allocation. They will use these decisions to take early firm stands on management deployment, organization structure and culture. Their actions will increasingly be linked to long-term, sustained economic value creation."

The advice and expertise offered in this book can be used to solve a range of operational problems from speeding up new product development to merging two businesses; from changing company culture to repositioning a business in a while new marketplace.

Whatever the challenges and opportunities facing you, your company, your industry, Five Frogs on a Log will move you from deciding to doing.

About this title

Review

Five Frogs on a Log is a practical and easy-to-absorb manual for corporate leaders facing those intense periods of total transformation that seem--for better or for worse--to define today's business world. Written by Mark L. Feldman and Michael F. Spratt, both partners and managing directors of PriceWaterhouseCooper's global M&A consulting division, the book aims to help managers through the "jolts, curves, and emotional potholes" that inevitably accompany such large-scale restructuring. "The high- priced bankers and lawyers exit with the close," they write, "leaving management to confront the challenge of producing results that justify the price, the added risk, and/or the significant disruption to current operations. To complicate matters, they face what amounts to a new company and a set of unexpected demands that can easily divert them from capturing the value that drove the deal." With help from insightful illustrations and quotations from those who have been there, Feldman and Spratt build upon their basic theory--that speed is of the essence in corporate upheavals of this type--by offering pragmatic solutions for the myriad problems that invariably arise. --Howard Rothman, Amazon.com

Review

"In a world filled with consultant-speak, Mark Feldman and Michael Spratt cut through the clutter, get to the root of the issues, and clearly lay out a map through the transition mine field in an entertaining and understandable way. "Five Frogs on a Log" is filled with interesting and fully appropriate anecdotes that drive home their many valuable insights to successful transition." -- Thomas T. Stallkamp, President, Chrysler Corporation"A brilliant primer of the acquisition world, which reads like a novel, not a business hot-to...and whether we admit it or not, many of us will find ourselves as characters in its pages. If you are acquisitive, this is a must read."-- Alan Hassenfeld, Chairman and CEO, Hasbro, Inc."Here is a compendious guide to the jungle of change management. Think of it as snake boots and snake serum. Don't go into the undergrowth without it."-- John Varley, Chief Executive, Retail Financial Services, Barclays Bank PLC""Five Frogs on a Log" is a must read for any senior executive contemplating the prospect of acquiring of being acquired. The authors' experiences in consulting with myriad companies engaged in the merger process provide compelling evidence to support the value of their advice. The lighthearted style and fictional accounts of merger events make the material an easy, engaging read."-- Charles M. Geschke, President and Chairman of the Board, Adobe Systems Incorporated"Mark Feldman and Michael Spratt have spent fifteen years advising the world's largest most panic-stricken companies on the implementation of mergers and acquisitions. They have condensed that experience into a book as full of wit as it is of wisdom. Executives contemplating a transformingacquisition should read it at their leisure in advance--and again in haste as the ink is drying."-- John Makinson, Group Finance Director, Pearson PLC"People ad organizations are not wired for change. But it is absolutely the constant we face--particularly when firms merge, This book will help top management re-wire their organizations as they must to create value from change."-- Patricia C. Dunn, Chairman, Barclays Global Investors"We've has firsthand experience with these concepts and processes...and they work! Any executive contemplating a merger or acquisition should read this first...even before talking to the investment banker. These are practical, executable methods that can capture the value of the combination as quickly as possible." -- Dick Moeller, Chairman of the Board, VTEL Corporation

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperBusiness
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 088730981X
• ISBN 13: 9780887309816
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224