In today's business environment, one of the trends we've been seeing lately is an increase in mergers and acquisitions. If you've experienced this at your organization, then you already know that when two companies combine, major changes are in store as new business practices are integrated, some existing practices are dropped, and the supply chain is no exception. Tompkins Associates has released a new white paper, Integrating Supply Chains from Business Combinations: Principles and Best Practices of Mergers and Acquisitions, that discusses challenges and best practices for supply chain teams faced with M&A activity.
The white paper discusses the importance of having supply chain strategy on the primary integration agenda, as it can be a fundamental value driver for a company. Additionally, when companies combine, the supply chain itself will have to adapt to potentially different suppliers, operating procedures, warehouse locations, etc.
The authors make several key points about how to overcome supply chain challenges when dealing with a merger:
The imperatives for true and lasting success with supply chain integrations are few; yet their achievement is challenging. The real keys to success in integrating supply chains in M&A are:
- Assign strong and experienced team leaders;
- Focus on enabling the business and operations strategies;
- Decide on the new organization and processes with the right criteria;
- Apply sound principles and best practices to all the work; and
- Establish a performance-based culture and a self-assessing DNA.
