Alliance Perspectives

Selling the Company? How Relaxing Control During the Sales Process Can Increase Value
January 02, 2017

Stories of company sales are riddled with strife. The staff that is asked to weather the transition often experiences wage cuts, department rollbacks and painful non-alignment among competing business units. Alyson Watson, former President of RMC Water and Environment, survived to tell the tale of her company’s acquisition. Better yet, the story is one of harmonious success, a triumph that began with letting go of control.

Case categories include: Ethics   Leadership   M&A   Strategy & Planning   

An Unexpected Offer
August 11, 2015

Marco Marini and Bart Schaefer, both executives in the email marketing industry, were fellow Alliance group members for years, and built a solid rapport of delivering straightforward feedback and comparing notes on their industry. But, when Bart decided it might be time to sell his company, Marco had much more to offer him than his opinion.

Case categories include: Leadership   M&A   Strategy & Planning   

Want to Upgrade Your Business? Upgrade Your Leadership Team.
February 17, 2015

A maturing industry requires its leaders to act differently. As industry players grow larger to manage compliance burdens and to gain access to capital, leadership styles that worked in the past can become dysfunctional. For midsized mortgage businesses to continue growing, they will need to upgrade their leadership teams through coaching, mentoring, and recruitment. Learn how Alliance member, Craig Sardella of Comstock Mortgage grew its volume to $750 million during a downturn in the industry, even while competition continued to be a drag on growth and profitability.

Case categories include: Entrepreneurship   Leadership   M&A   Strategy & Planning   

CFO: Need to Know
October 24, 2014

Today’s CFO faces more challenges than ever. Staying ahead of vital business trends is one of those challenges. Hear from a panel of Ernst & Young professionals and CFOs, include Alliance member, Rick Martig, as they discuss what every CFO needs to know about digital.

Case categories include: Executive Development   M&A   Technology   Trends   

Preparing to Plant your Acquisition
August 06, 2014

Growing through acquisition is an enticing prospect for many mid-market companies, but many deals fail to reach their potential. In this article, several Alliance members and alumni illustrate how to "prepare the soil" for M&A success by building the proper bandwidth to handle due diligence and integration.

Case categories include: M&A   Strategy & Planning   

Getting Ready for the Exit Day
February 17, 2014

CEOs underinvest in preparing themselves and their firms for an exit, and in building business acumen for exiting. When the event is upon us, many seek to turn it over to investment bankers, and while they play a critical part in many exits, there is much that they cannot do, or where their incentives are not perfectly aligned with the seller. 

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Case categories include: M&A   

How to Avoid the Killer Acquisition
October 29, 2012

Mid-market firms are big enough to make sizable acquisitions but are often not big enough to have dedicated acquisition teams or the management bandwidth to integrate a newly acquired firm. One disastrous acquisition can push a mid-market company into bankruptcy court.

Case categories include: M&A   

Member Survey: Acquisitions Best Practices
February 19, 2012

A survey was sent to over 300 Alliance of Chief Executives members in the greater Bay Area between January 13th and January 22nd, 2012. Read about the focus of this research - to better understand how mid-market companies can improve the likelihood and magnitude of acquisition success.

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Case categories include: CEO Survey   M&A   

Inside a Merger that Worked
October 31, 2010

Two companies merge to gain economies of scale and to create an industry leader. But not so with Oclaro (NASDAQ: OCLR), formed when CEO Alain Couder merged $300M Bookham (NASDAQ:BKHM) with $200M Avanex (NASDAQ: AVNX) in April of 2009. Today, the combined company's stock price is up nearly four times from April of last year.

Case categories include: M&A   

Beginning With the End in Mind
June 14, 2008

Imagine that your company is seeking to merge or be acquired only to discover that the "change in control" provisions in your compensation agreements are scaring away potential suitors. Internal inconsistencies within your agreements (employment agreements, change in control agreements, severance plans, equity incentive plans, supplemental executive retirement plans, etc.) create substantial financial liabilities that you may not uncover until it is too late. Such unanticipated consequences can adversely impact or kill your deal.

Case categories include: M&A   

Decision Making Illnesses
March 31, 2006

The process of making good decisions is critical. Some firms/teams are bad at decision making, and the results can be ugly. Four decision making illnesses are discussed along with some suggestions about improvement.

Case categories include: Leadership   M&A