What I learned at Vistage
At my Vistage meeting last week, we listened to a speaker about mergers and acquisitions. And as usual, I was trying to imagine how this great information would pertain to China sourcing. He said that 65 percent of mergers and acquisitions fail because parties spent time putting out fires and not planning properly. That sounds simple, but there was much more to it. We learned that there are four principles that the successful 35 percent adhere to which keeps them on the success track. These principles are as follows: Plan, Inspire, Focus and Follow through. Sounds simple enough on the surface, but when you get into the details of merging business cultures, things become very complex.
And How Does this Relate to China Sourcing?
And I realized that these principles also apply to sourcing products and services in China. After all, my company, Avela Corporation, acts as the liaison, merging completely different business and cultural differences in order to create an environment for success.
Our speaker had a great quote regarding planning by Dwight D Eisenhower. “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” I was struck by how profound this is. Planning for all contingencies helps eliminate firefighting and is critical in supports reaching your goals.
Inspiration is about getting everyone’s buy in. It is all about clear and honest communication. If done with purpose, autonomy, and mastery, you get understanding and engagement. Our speaker implied that focus is about providing the resources necessary to do the merger correctly.
Accountability is the key to China Sourcing….
And of course follow through is all about accountability and doing what you said you would do, when you said you would do it.Many details were merger and acquisition specific, but I found that many of the ideas and principles presented were not only applicable to China sourcing and building lasting relationships; they were winning principles in general. Principles not to forget or lose site of.As we push through the details of the days, weeks and months of 2011, we may discover that we are putting out more and more fires in our business. If so, it is probably a good time to reexamine these principles in ernest and get back on the 35 percent success track. Avela Corporation has over 10 years of success in china sourcing and creating relationships necessary for your business.
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