LETTERS to the Editor.

• Position: Brief Article

Merger Coverage Praised

Congratulations on your outstanding article "Are Mergers Paying Off?" (March/April, 2001). The question asked in your title is deceptively complex. As those of us in the business of making mergers and acquisitions work "after the ink is dry" know, the answer is, well, they can.

Your article moved readers beyond the question of whether or not the business concept behind mergers and acquisitions is sound -- it most certainly is -- but instead challenged us to look at the not so glamorous discipline of acquisition integration and its critical role in determining whether or not mergers can pay off as a business strategy.

Let's face it: The hype surrounding the coming together of two organizations is exciting. It speaks to our deepest hopes and desires to create new enterprises that spawn new opportunities. Unfortunately, as your article aptly demonstrates, this has also caused bright, experienced business professionals -- entire organizations -- to believe that we can neglect the day-to-day basics of making businesses work, let alone the initial integration of diverse organizational cultures, complex processes and systems in the areas of financial reporting, forecasting and budgeting, inventory and distribution, sales order management and other activities.

Some mergers and acquisitions fail because of changing business environments, new forms of competition and the like. But when today's prevailing Wall Street wisdom is that three of every four mergers consummated will fail...