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Summary: Some of the best business practices I've seen,
Review: boiled down into 186 pages. It moves from outlining the Seven Deadly Sins of implementing transitions to offering specific actionable avenues to affect results. Everything you read can be used at your next business meeting to create value drivers that guide behavior and produce desired outcomes. Buy it, read it, and then implement it.
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Summary: The best merger/acquisition book on the market!
Review: Congratulations on writing the very best Merger/Acquisition book on the market! My entire management team is truly impressed.Because of recent (and at this time, confidential) activities planned for our Company, and with little experience in the acquisition/merger process, I have been searching for (and read) many books on the same topic. I found your book at the suggestion of Barns and Noble's web site (top of their best seller list). Your book is a no-nonsense practical approach that to-date has been an invaluable reference for our management team. Of the 9 books I've either read each page (as well as a dozen others I've just skimmed that are not worth reading), yours is by far the very best. In particular, the section on "culture" (what it REALLY is and what actions are necessary), on transition teams, on executive comp. for the transition (yes, I am a Frederick Herzberg and Alfie Kohn fan, but with this type of major change, the carrot-and -stick lives!), the danger of 260 priorities (we're probably at 262 but now understand how to back-off), and perhaps most "world class" is the communications chapter (we just spent about $10m on a communications consultant who should read your book!) I would be remiss not to point our one small error: Page 62, first full paragraph, I believe you meant to reference the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN), not the "Warren Act." This is a common error we Human Resources people see due to dictating machines and listening to tapes. Please let me know if you have had any follow-up publications, especially if you have more detailed advice on organizational design. Thanks for making our jobs easier and making us "look good" by simply taking your advice. Jim Gray, Vice President - Human Resources, Asten, Inc.
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Summary: An exhilirating insight into corporate transition!
Review: Feldman and Spratt have created an insightful and genuinely lively ride through the arena of corporate change. Five Frogs makes a compelling case for speed, practicality and decisiveness that is based on years of empirical case history and frought with examples of corporate miscues. A must read for anyone going though a transaction or experiencing corporate change!
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Summary: Roadmap to successfull integration & become the"Streets"hero
Review: Five Frogs portraits the risks and provides CEO level solutions for successful integration of your recent acquisition. Feldman and Spratt demonstrate why their accelerated approach towards business integration maximizes stakeholder benefits (investor, customer, employee, supplier) and provides the new organization with tools to blend two cultures, stabilize the organization and achieve early wins.
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Summary: Worth reading
Review: Having been on the receiving end of several poorly-executed acquisitions, I much appreciated the authors' vivid descriptions of merger complexity - and their straightforward advice on how to avoid it. Definitely worth reading.
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Summary: The best book on mergers
Review: I attended an M&A conference where Feldman was giving the keynote address. I was so impressed by the insights in the speech, that I immediately bought the book and read it cover-to-cover. Five Frogs is a powerful book. It delivers valuable insights and intelligent solutions that can only come from years of experience. The whimsical title and entertaining style may give some readers the impression that this is not a serious book. However, this is a very serious book that directly confronts the really tough issues in making mergers work. Having been on the executive team in many mergers, I have purchased and read the popular M&A books. They all tend to be dry and academic. But, Five Frogs gets your attention by presenting ideas in unexpected ways. From the seven deadly merger sins in the introduction to the ultimate scapegoat in the last chapter, the book is immediately useful. And, the emphasis on speed and execution is exactly what every merger needs.
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Summary: Long on opinion, short on facts
Review: I found this book entertaining in terms of the anecdotes they use to illustrate their points. However, I was deeply disappointed with the degree of conviction they maintain based primarily on a data sample of a little more than 100 firms. That compares to more than 30,000 transactions globally in a normal year. I find it difficult to have much confidence in their conclusions. I find it annoying that author's often seem to promote either their agenda, their firm, or a particular point of view by using either data that tends to support their conclusions or a sample that is too small to be meaningful. Nonetheless, if you are interested in being entertained, this book is for you...howerver, if you are interested in some modicum of rigor, you need to look elsewhere.
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Summary: Long on opinion, short on facts
Review: I found this book entertaining in terms of the anecdotes they use to illustrate their points. However, I was deeply disappointed with the degree of conviction they maintain based primarily on a data sample of a little more than 100 firms. That compares to more than 30,000 transactions globally in a normal year. I find it difficult to have much confidence in their conclusions. I find it annoying that author's often seem to promote either their agenda, their firm, or a particular point of view by using either data that tends to support their conclusions or a sample that is too small to be meaningful. Nonetheless, if you are interested in being entertained, this book is for you...howerver, if you are interested in some modicum of rigor, you need to look elsewhere.
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Summary: Unexpectedly fun to read!
Review: I had expected to get a dry, formulaic tome on standard business practices from a couple of long-time PWC executives. What I found in this book is actually an entertaining and deeply insightful guide to merger and acquisition integration strategy. I also found it to have actionable recommendations, and would urge anyone working on a merger or acquisition to READ THIS FIRST!
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Summary: Wonderful book! Buy it and read it!
Review: I have been involved with mergers and acquisitions from the Human Resources point of view for many years. This is the best and enjoyable book I have ever read on the subject. The book is funny and well thought out. A short, concise, practical way to view the M&A process. If your company is planning a merger or acquisition or is even thinking about one, read this book.
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