M&A Integration End States

What the organization will look like at the conclusion of the integration.

End states involve big questions (usually initially defined by executives) to provide direction to the functional teams such as:  

• Where and when will you close plants?
• What functions will you integrate now, later, or preserve indefinitely?
• What IT systems will you use in the short-term and what ones will use down the road?
• To what extent will compensation, benefits and performance management be harmonized between organizations?
• What will the product portfolio look like?
• What has to happen by function for the synergies to be realized?
• What is the desired experience for the employees and other internal stakeholders for this integration project? i.e. all employees will have a common email address ( jsmith@newco.com ); all employees will have access to the common intranet site; and all legacy intranet sites will be "sunsetted" (to decommission or close them).          
• What is the desired End State for our customers? i.e. all customers will have access to the full array of NewCo products and services, and pricing will be uniform throughout our distribution footprint.
• What is the desired End State for the community? i.e. our legacy community outreach and charitable programs will be consolidated, and we will speak in the unified voice of our new company.
• What is the desired End State for marketing? i.e. we will market under our NewCo brand name in all the markets we serve by X date.
   

Human Resources End State Statements

Organization Structure and Reporting Lines

• Centralized back office  organization structure and office
• Matrix reporting structure - BU functions report solid lines into BU heads and dotted into central functional heads to enable responsiveness to deliver to customer whilst maintaining central oversight and governance

Compensation and Benefit

• Common HR policies across all BUs and Corporate

Performance Management

• Common PM system, tools and processes across NewCo

Employment Contract and Code of Conduct

• Harmonized employment contracts across NewCo
• Common policies and procedures for code of conduct

Culture

• Common corporate vision and company culture for NewCo.

Sales End State Statements

Brand Strategy

• Each country will have its own branding strategy for its products leveraging NewCo market strengths
• Rationalized portfolio for NewCo products by country

Customer Segments

• Standardized best-in-class service approach for all customer segments
• Common pricing scheme for distributors
• Common distributor territory and borders for NewCo products in each country

Sales and Marketing

• Unified sales team for each country
• Common distributor sales rep for all products of NewCo
• Standardised compensation and incentive schemes for sales personnel
• Unified front in terms of advertising, branding, pricing, and hours of operation

Center of Excellence

• Centralized Commercial Center of Excellence for the purpose of driving best practices to all BUs from shared learning of NewCo

Other

• Superior service levels that lead to a best-in-market approach with all customers throughout the value chain (e.g. distributors, contractors, building owners, architects
• Robust and targeted marketing and sales approaches aligned to the customer segments
• Well-trained and effective sales teams equipped with customer value propositions and targeted selling approaches (with flexibility to localize as needed)
• Ability to grow market share in the premium segments based on delivering value-added customer service supported by a strong product portfolio, technical system solutions, and recognized suite of brands...