Inside synergy assessment: avoiding mistakes for merger and acquisitions success

Inside synergy assessment: avoiding mistakes for merger and acquisitions success, EURAM (European Academy of Management Annual Conference.), 2010 Annual conference.

Abstract
Synergy assessment is an important challenge for firms, advisors, and practitioners involved in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). However, despite the value of synergy expectations is commonly regarded as one of the M&A success factors, its role in synergy assessment models is surprisingly overlooked in the literature. Therefore, we conduct an exploratory survey on how different types of experts assess the value of synergies in M&A. Our results suggest a misalignment between theoretical prescriptions and business practices. Based on this findings, we identify three common types of mistakes and we advance a new tool for the useful support of synergy assessment in M&A.

Keywords: synergy expectations; M&A; value creation; evaluation models; mistakes.
Introduction