• Identifying ways of leveraging cultural differences for the benefit of an effectively managed
M&A process
There is no terrain where intercultural competence has become such an
important success factor than in cross-border M&A. LENZ
International's Intercultural M&A-Management helps to create and to
capture value throughout the M&A life cycle - from idea inception
through integration.
Acting with intercultural competence is the faculty to embrace the cultural
conditions and the cultural influencing factors which affect our own
behavior and that of other individuals with which we interact. When it
comes to negotiating a deal, a traditional management mindset and
traditional management competencies are rarely enough to pick up the
delicate, often hidden nuances thrown up by differing cultures. Correct
intercultural communication patterns are taken for granted. But
the hidden rules of interpersonal intercultural interaction often only become
apparent when they have been broken and when a deal hits the "cultural
wall". In M&A a lot of attention is paid to the legal and
financial side of deals, but these actually stand or fall on the
strength of their human side.
At LENZ International, we believe that our intercultural competence can
help smooth the running of our clients’ cross-border mergers and
acquisitions processes. We are inspired by the cultural dimensions in
Franco-German M&A. We know the elements contributing to effective Franco-
German
intercultural communication and we know how to prevent that corporate
cultural differences are ineffectively combined with national cultural
differences. We aid our clients to identify creative, successful ways
of leveraging these cultural differences for the benefit of an
effectively managed M&A process. We place a strong emphasis on
understanding and managing the cultural implications of the proposed
change. We are personally and professionally immersed into the French and into
the German cultures, which allows us to offer that extra dimension -
practical Intercultural Mediation Services - when we
perform M&A project work for our clients. During the Transaction
Phase, we heed national cultural differences for optimal cross-border
communication, during the Integration Phase, we perform cultural
analysis to determine the optimal way to bridging corporate cultures.
When undertaking a Franco-German acquisition, our clients can be confronted with the following key cultural questions:
- what role does culture play in the big picture of the client’s cross-border acquisition?
- which aspects of the deal and which facets of the process are cross-national and which are
corporate culture issues?
- when things go wrong, how can problems be defined and evaluated once intercultural
adroitness is applied?
- what are the optimal strategies, approaches and attitudes that would be most effective for
overcoming cross-national and inter-company cultural differences?
By specialising in Franco-German mergers and acquisitions, LENZ
International has gained considerable intercultural competence in
dealing with all of the above issues. We can give expert advice in
setting up mechanisms for diagnosing and remedying intercultural issues.
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