M&A Strategy Processes:
Theory, Tasks and Automatability

'This book focuses on the aspects of modern-day M&A which include adapting to digital transformation, automation, and bringing forth new practices. Dr. Popp has eloquently laid out new practices and solves the problem where old M&A processes from the early part of the century now change and adapt to the new-age business reality. A highly recommended read for those who want to acquire businesses in the digital era.'

Nitin Kumar, Co-Founder, zblocks

This new book is will help you on your way to digitizing your M&A strategy process.

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This book addresses key issues during the creation of corporate strategy and M&A strategy by explaining how to:

• Define a complete strategy,

• Define a consistent strategy, which is executable since it fits with strategic capabilities of a company,

• Use an all-encompassing scope for the strategy to avoid blind spots,

• Include ecosystem and platform strategy,

• Cascade strategies easily by detailing the strategy into actionable goals,

• Define M&A strategy and its exact relationships to corporate strategy,

• Define strategic fit of two companies.

These problem areas are addressed and solutions are presented in the new book presented here.

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Take their word for it: M&A Pros and Academia love it.

'Dr. Karl Popp, with over two decades of M&A experience in the IT industry, presents a well-founded guide to digitizing the M&A strategy definition phase in his new book. Utilizing the M&A reference model and a wealth of practice-oriented examples, he illustrates how to tackle the challenges in developing and implementing M&A strategies. In my opinion, this book serves as a highly valuable advisor for orchestrating successful M&A processes in the IT sector.'

Juergen Beckers, Senior Partner of the Software & IT Law Firm Rechtsanwaelte BDH, Darmstadt, Germany

'The author does an excellent job of explaining complex strategy concepts in a straightforward and easy-to-understand manner.'

Prof. Dr. Peter Buxmann, TU Darmstadt

"Dr. Popp's book on "M&A Strategy Definition: Theory, Tasks and Automatability"  highlights the challenges and provides solutions how to implement a  holistic M&A strategy as part of an overall end-to-end M&A  process. As the strategic rational serves as the northern star of any transaction, the book will be a widely applicable and invaluable contribution within the M&A research space."  

Prof. Dr. Thorsten Feix, Augsburg University of Applied Sciences

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‚By incorporating ecosystem and platform strategies, this book offers a holistic approach to corporate strategy and M&A that ensures no blind spots are left unaddressed.‘

Thomas Aidan Curran, Ory Corp

This book is a must-read for anyone involved in corporate strategy or M&A, as it provides invaluable insights into how to define and execute a comprehensive strategy.‘

Christopher Jud, Vice-President & Head of International Product Unit, CompuGroup Medical

‘Karl’s new book provides a contemporary and comprehensive view on M&A strategy, underpinned by an advanced model and well explained with many practical examples.’

Patrick Silz, M&A expert

'This book is an essential resource for anyone involved in M&A, as it provides a clear and detailed explanation of how to define M&A strategy and its exact relationship to your company's broader corporate strategy.'

Dr. Juergen Abrams, Abrams Industries

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'This book provides a clear and comprehensive guide to developing a complete and executable corporate development and M&A strategy, leveraging latest technologies such as AI and reference models.'

Ralf Meyer, Synomic

“It's time for changing M&A forever.” This quote from the book underscores the author's holistic view and his professional expertise in taking a process-oriented and analytical approach to implementing strategic objectives. The author does an excellent job of breaking down complex concepts into easily digestible insights that help you cascade your strategy into actionable goals.‘

Nils Niehoerster, Modelyzr

'This book provides a comprehensive and detailed guide to defining M&A strategy, introducing new concepts such as strategic entities and a strategy metamodel, and offering practical solutions to common problems faced by strategy professionals. It explores the precise relationships with corporate strategy and provides valuable guidance for developing a successful strategy for mergers and acquisitions.' 

Mathias Westerbarkei, Westfälische Corporate Finance GmbH

'The insights and strategies outlined in this book are invaluable for anyone in the corporate world, from small startups to large corporations.'

Manfred Amberger, Zollner Elektronik

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What´s new in this book

The following items and topics go beyond existing literature and the book that covers the due diligence phase [Popp,20]:

• a structured way to define strategy based on strategic entities is presented.

• the subject of strategic capabilities of companies is presented in a structured way and an exact, detailed definition.

• the M&A Reference Model that was presented for the due diligence phase is extended for the M&A strategy phase by roles.

• a data model for the M&A strategy phase is presented.Chapters of the book

This book contains an excerpt of the M&A reference model for the M&A strategy phase together with basic chapters. The M&A Reference Model is the prerequisite for the end-to-end automation of the M&A process.

The third chapter lays the foundations for the digitization of business systems, which can be used to better interpret the M&A reference model. The fourth chapter lays the foundations of the M&A Reference Model and uses examples to explain how the model can serve as the basis for automating the M&A process.

It then explains the details of the model for the M&A strategy phase of the M&A process. All tasks in this phase are defined by means of objectives and a task description, their automation and availability of tools, and the data object types used by the task. Numerous questions are listed with each task assuring you can execute the task properly.

The sixth section contains the data model used within the M&A Reference Model and shows how data objects are embedded in a conceptual data schema for the M&A process. The book is then rounded off with literature and a keyword index.

But automation does not stop there, upcoming books will cover additional phases of the process and available tools, too.

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What is fundamentally new in this book

Over the last three years, i have updated and extended the M&A reference model to the strategy phase. Major extensions of this book are:

It is describing all tasks of the M&A strategy phase, additional questions have been added to the following tasks

• Embedded M&A Strategy

• Finding potential targets

• Processing the long and short list

• Evaluation of the fit of a target

• M&A Capability Map

• Finalize and Approve Deal Proposal

On a conceptual level, the following is brand-new:

• The strategy definition has been formalized and includes a business model perspective

• A new form of strategic due diligence is introduced, which deals with the target's strategy and its compatibility with the buyer's strategy.

• Already in the M&A strategy phase, plans for merger integration are subjected to an examination.

• Goals and objectives are defined for each task

• For the first time an attempt is being made to describe a data model for M&A strategy.

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Goal and target audience of the book

The goal of the book is to structure the application domain "M&A Process" in an easily understandable model.

This book can be used as follows:

• Determine the tasks to be digitized: This book describes almost all tasks in the due diligence process. The tasks relevant for a company can be selected and then automated in a targeted manner.

• Overview of digitization options for the M&A process: The automation options described for the tasks provide an overview of which tasks in the M&A process can already be automated today and how.

• Determine the digitization potential of M&A processes: The methodology contained in this book and the details of the tasks, their automation capabilities and automation options allow you to determine the digitization potential.

• Familiarization with M&A processes: In this book, all tasks in the Due Diligence phase are documented with their objectives, a description and with questions during execution. This enables a quick familiarization with the details of the due diligence.

Target Audience

The target group are managers and employees of strategy and M&A departments, persons responsible for post-merger integration and other practitioners, but also students and teachers in the field of M&A.

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About the author

Dr. Karl Michael Popp is a member of the Corporate Development, Strategy and New Growth Team in the Office of the CEO at SAP SE in Germany. In his thirty-year career at large and small software companies, he has worked on over 50 strategic partnerships and over thirty acquisitions and successful merger integrations. Karl is a speaker, author on software and platform business models, software ecosystems and merger automation and runs workshops on software ecosystems and merger integration.

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