As the Wall Street Journal pointed out last week, many Mom-and-Pop operations lack formal crisis plans - and are shutting down as a result of the current economy.  In our experience, this lack of planning is not limited to family enterprises.  It is disturbing how many firms – small, medium and even large – lack formal planning for crises, for succession, and for growth.

It is not always for lack of vision, or a desire to be proactive.  Many times, it is for lack of know-how, beginning with where to start.  Companies who use a systematic, process-oriented methodology to plan for the future stand a much greater chance of being successful.  Have you thought about planning for these issues?

• A five-year strategic growth plan
• Leadership succession
• Estate tax impact
• Continuity of operations in the case of a natural disaster

Firms would do well to ensure that they think about crisis planning as much as they do operations or finances, utilizing expert third-party facilitators if there is no in-house capability.  This is especially true in today’s uncertain business environment, where inflexibility or failure to act can be a death knell.

Technorati Tags: Acquisition Strategy, Capstone, disaster planning, divestiture, estate planning, External Growth, M&A News, Mergers and Acquisitions, wes teague

The M&A statistics for the third quarter of 2009 are in and show the vast majority of the deals getting done are strategic.  The economic crisis and concerns over deal financing continued to significantly hold down the number and value of deals when compared to the same period last year.  Today, a Wall Street Journal article by Peter Lattman reports that leverage is out and equity is in.  Although these numbers are grim, there is reason for hope.  A number of big name deals, such as Kraft-Cadbury and Disney-Marvel, have injected the market with some much needed optimism.  These types of deals are evidence that strategic deals are going to lead the way to recovery with private equity to follow – not the other way around.

Technorati Tags: Acquisition Strategy, acquisitions, business acquisitions, Cadbury, Capstone, cash, David Braun, Disney, equity value, External Growth, Integration, Kraft, M&A, M&A News, Marvel, mergers, private equity