Creating a plan for your business is more than just a means to secure funding and show to any potential investor that you have a business that could stand the test of time in a sustainable profitable manner.  Your business plan is a road map for your business, complete with choices to make as your business develops and progresses.

Businesses that are likely to survive and indeed thrive are those that show an agile approach to adapting when they need to.  Whether your business is faced with unexpected circumstances, new opportunities, organisational growth or a need to shrink when budgets are constrained, whatever the reason, there is a very strong likelihood that planned or unplanned your business will need to make changes regularly. 

Change management experts are increasingly finding that their roles are not just to push through change projects, but they must proactively seek to change the way that the organisation and workforce enable change to happen.  They are responsible for creating a culture where change is ingrained in the business model.  Building an accepting environment is ever evolving. Why we need to rethink organisational change management mentions that 70% of projects fall by the wayside through resistance, a lack of understanding and communications.  This failure rate shows the need to review the way business as a whole see the change process. 

The benefits

Changing the way your organisation and those within it view change will help its chance of success.  A business plan that understands and is versatile to be able to cope with changes, enabling the workforce to handle varying degrees of change, from complex to more simple changes without causing worrying shockwaves that a change can cause should be the key aim of any change manager.  Creating an atmosphere amongst the organisation that not only accepts change but also is welcoming of it can avoid many of the issues faced through a wall of resistance.  The more smoothly the process, the less chance of budget, timeframe and staff casualties on the way.

A change management plan that has a basis defined alongside the overall plan for the business creates an environment that organisational change is not a one off top down process.  The process for change can cope equally well for small or large, planned or emergent change, with processes, communications and indeed support networks already in place and already used and accepted by the workforce.

If your business plan covers strategy for change, your role, as a change manager is to articulate the reasons why the change is critical, what the future will look and feel like. The more the company creates an environment where change is part of the way of life, the less likely resistance, failure or additional hurdles on the way.

Your business plan creates a structure for your business, and your change management plan should ensure that the business plan when there is a need for change is communicated effectively, helping to maintain employee focus and understanding.  A business that plans for planned change in a way that creates opportunities for employees to ask questions become part of the process and to see how the changes will most certainly be of benefit to those affected and see a higher chance of success. 

Having defined recognisable processes ingrained as the business model and ethos of a company will help when the need for urgent or emergent change arises, as the foundations are already there.

Dealing with change

Dealing with change is a potentially major drain on time, money and resources, which can upset a business budget especially for a major change or a run of smaller unforeseen changes.  The more automated the process can become; leaving the change manager time to focus on supporting people through change  must be of benefit.  The ability to automate many of the processes will allow you to act and direct changes more efficiently.  Bypassing hierarchy that can slow the process down and get to the heart of the decision makers or reach out and foster the feeling of involvement throughout the relevant parties will see benefits.  Managing change so that those involved can see real progress towards the end goal, access answers more readily and be more easily able to see tangible benefits through real time updates all helps to keep up momentum and drive participation and chances of success.

Managing change digitally is possible through a variety of platforms and such an approach to change management should be viewed as part of your business plan by the change management consultants within your organisation.

Conclusion

Planning for change is the best way to make successful changes within your business, and doing so with a structure in place, understanding your business plan, will not cater for all of the changes you will make, but will provide an atmosphere that understands change is necessary.  An agile forward thinking business that reacts well to both planned and emergent change, where not every change is a fight against the resistance will stand a far greater chance of getting any change through effectively no matter how big.  No one is saying make change for the sake of change, but reviewing your business and not being afraid to ask, expect or execute changes when a need is identified will create a stronger business. When you involve your teams in a way that they feel able to express opinions, suggest change or go with the flow because you have explained why it is necessary and can clearly see the benefits, the rewards and have a feeling of accomplishment for the majority of changes that really do benefit them. When it comes to a difficult change, whilst there may be casualties along the way, the overall process will be less traumatic if the process and structure is in place to make it happen.

Change managers will be spending less time doing automated repetitive tasks and be able to spend greater time identifying potential stakeholder resistance, planning to deal with such and seek to head of the likelihood of failure through resistance or ignorance.

In June 2020, amid the novel Corona-19, Saudi Aramco formally completed the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) acquisition. The company now owns a 70% stake in SABIC by investing 259.125 billion (US$ 69.1 billion). The pros of the merger include establishing Aramco’s dominance in the petrochemical industry in the global market. It is one industry that has been growing fast because of the increase in global oil demand. In 2019, both the companies’ combined petrochemical production touched 90 million tonnes, a record in itself. The acquisition is a part of its ‘Downstream strategy’, a long-term strategy to grow its refining and petrochemicals capacity. Aramco benefits hugely from this merger, with the investment becoming a case study for industries on how an M&A can be well-planned and bear impressive results.

On a similar line, the acquisition of Careem by Uber in March 2019 was a successful one. For $3.1 billion, Uber Technologies bought rival Careem, thereby establishing its supremacy over the Middle East. The merger was essential for Uber in the UAE and was termed as an ‘important moment for Uber” after it had faced losses in countries like Russia, Southeast Asia, and China.

But not all mergers and acquisitions go this well. The chances of a failure are more, and the reasons can be many. Among the many reasons of why a merger and acquisition may not end up giving the desired results, one vital reason is that acquiring firms are overpaying for an acquisition. This story has remained the same, more or less all throughout history. A perfect example for this is the acquisition of Snapple by Quaker Oats in the late 1990s. Quaker paid $1.7 billion to acquire the other company, but experts believed that the deal was at least $1 billion higher than what it should have been.

It is as if most acquiring companies rush through the process. In the excitement of it all, they fail to ponder on essential aspects of mergers and acquisitions. Many have failed because the integration of the acquired company with the parent has been poor. Take the case of the Quaker Oats-Snapple merger. On the day the merger was announced formally, both the companies registered a fall in share prices. Within a span of 20 months, Quaker Oats had to sell off Snapple at a loss of about 20%. Poor implementation of the deal backed by changing market conditions was cited as the main reason.

Obviously, the issue was the lack of strategic planning and an apparent enthusiasm to acquire on the acquiring company. What could have stopped Quaker Oats to avoid such a financial goof-up were to take the help of proficient mergers and acquisition consulting services. Some feasible questions that need to be addressed in this context are – what is the right amount to pay for an acquisition, or at what point should acquiring companies decide to move out of the M&A?

In a research conducted by the Harvard Business Review, it was found that there is a systematic way of going about the pricing during acquisitions. There needs to be a detailed due diligence where the data related to the target company needs to be analytically evaluated, and stringent discipline needs to be in place for informed decision-making.

Where is the issue?

Usually, when a decision regarding an M&A has to be taken, the board of directors and shareholders need to vote for or against the merger. However, in most cases, it has been seen that the top management decides in favor of a merger, and the board puts its stamp of approval on it. Shareholders rarely go against such decisions. In most cases, it has been found that the short-term gains are what everybody across the board is interested in. In the process, they push the long-term goals behind. Many a time, it has also been seen that the biggest beneficiaries of such mergers are the top management of executives while the overall acquisition proves to be disastrous for the acquiring company.

The best example here is the acquisition of Jos. A. Bank in the US by Men’s Wearhouse in 2014. While it was a fizzled-out decision for Men’s Wearhouse, with share prices immediately declining by over 50%, Doug Ewert, the CEO of Men’s Wearhouse, saw substantial financial gains as he received a handsome bonus on completing the acquisition.

While greed is one major factor that seems to be behind these far-fetched acquisitions, there are other reasons. As per Mergers and Acquisition Advisors and experts, there is a popular theory called the Overvaluation Trap. It is also something that senior executives get into to justify an over-valued price of mergers while promoting what is termed ‘Flashy Acquisitions’. It helps executives distract everyone, including the board and the market, from other inadequacies and failures grappling with the company.

The Pollyanna Principle also plays a significant role in all of this. Overpriced acquisitions often result because people at the top link a previous success and memories of a positive merger in the past. They feel that such memories will keep repeating, and there would be no negative experiences. Plus, the need for senior individuals to stay competitive can push organizations into embracing over-valued acquisitions. One good example of the top guys’ ego issue was explicitly exemplified when Elon Musk decided to bail out a sick company called SolarCity (SCTY). What happened, as a result, was that the shares of his very famous Tesla plummeted instantly.

Overpaying or over-valuation of M&A is a problem that is one of the gross mistakes that acquiring companies commit. The selling company will negotiate hard and tell you when the price you are getting is not enough, but they will never tell you when they are paying more.

So, what is the solution? Companies that want to acquire or merge, or buyout another firm need to hire well-experienced mergers and acquisition specialists to avoid all such discrepancies and eventual losses.

Importance of Conducting a Financial Due Diligence during M&A

When acquiring or merging with a company, it is imperative to conduct an in-depth analysis of the financial status of a business. As part of this analysis, the financial records and statements are reviewed to get a holistic picture on the financial position of the company. The revenues and margins of each product/ service are reviewed. This due diligence is carried out to make a well-informed takeover or merger decision. The financial due diligence has proved to be an essential tool that help businesses avoid risks that can only be understood when the existing conditions are studied in-depth.

Some of the goals of due diligence are:

●          Assessing the financial position of a company

●          Forecast the Future Cash Flow

●          Uncover unrecorded liabilities

●          Identifications of Key Financial Risks

●          Well-informed decision making

Thus, the major goal of a financial due diligence is to deeply check the company to understand its current financial condition, helping the investors to decide if they wish to proceed with the merger or an acquisition.

How can Mergers and Acquisition Advisors Prevent Companies from Over-Valuation?

The right way to get going on the M&A process is to hire an expert from a Merger and Acquisition services firm. Professional experts use modern-day and advanced tools to carry out a Financial Due Diligence of the target company in the pre-merger stage. A comprehensive financial due diligence review looks into the existing financial and legal aspects of the target company. Going further, M&A advisors evaluate the business risks that the acquiring company inherits from the target company. Experts also assess the synergies between the two companies and how things can work in the post-merger stage.

Experienced and seasoned advisors and consultants facilitates in an independent decision-making rather than supporting vested interest in the acquiring company. They are impartial to the entire scenario and work independently to help the acquiring company identify issues, delve into solutions, and finally take a call.

About Affility Consulting

Affility Consulting is a UAE-based Merger and Acquisition Advisor offering end-to-end advisory services. Thoroughly proficient in Financial Due Diligence, the company is an acknowledged leader in this niche. With an extensive know-how, the team offers out-of-the-box and innovative solutions and strategies that facilitates optimized decision-making. Being a prominent Mergers and Acquisition Specialist in the United Arab Emirates, Affility Consulting provides expert advice and consulting to business owners with goals of buying or selling a business.

Interested in becoming a sales mogul in 2021? Here’s all you need to know about an excellent opportunity with Isagenix…

If you are looking for a new venture in 2021, listen up! We have an exciting new opportunity for you, involving global leaders in network marketing and wellness, Isagenix.

This innovative market leader has been providing clients with the power to change their lifestyle, wellbeing, and personal health at the same time as growing financial wealth – for years now. They have ample experience in making sure your investments are working for you.

Five things to know about the Isagenix Business Opportunity

Before you rush off to invest, here are a few things you should know.

1 – Who are Isagenix?

You might never have had a networking opportunity like this – but now is your chance to thrive. Isagenix started life in the US and Australia and incorporates a brand of products focused on the health and wellbeing of the individual. Clients have access to an excellent scheme of support, with help centres in origin countries and all the product information, corporate literature, and branding access, that you could hope for.

2 -What is the Isagenix Business Opportunity?

The Isagenix plan lets you generate additional income for yourself. Unlike joining other sales schemes, Isagenix pay you proportionately for how your area performs. So, if you don’t sell anything one week but everyone else in your country (England, Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland) does, then you earn some of that revenue anyway. This way, if everyone is performing on target, you can earn substantially more than you calculate for yourself.

3 – It’s Collaborative!

Since all the adverts for the business uses the same branding in one location, this spreads the work out, drawing everyone together to work co-operatively. Imagine a customer calls you from Inverness and you are working in Glasgow. You can collaborate with the northern branch of Isagenix to bring the client the wellness products that they need. It’s an all for one and one for all situations.

4 – You can make Big Bucks

This might sound like it operates using small change, but it isn’t true. The Isagenix business opportunity has created thousands of jobs across multiple nations. Better yet, it has created millionaires of its own. If you are willing to work for it and can apply yourself to the position, then you stand to increase your income exponentially.

5 – You can check before you invest

With thousands of us working from home dure to Covid-19, now is the chance you have been waiting for to branch out on your own. Thousands of people before you have gone on to put a little trust in Isagenix and made their fortune… perhaps you could be next.

If you still aren’t sure, however, why not head over to their pages and check out the business opportunity for yourself. It is guaranteed to help you setup as a fitness advisor, coach, or health instructor. The Isagenix diet and exercise regime has gained international acclaim as a healthy, successful way to lose weight and get fit. If you don’t like the idea of the brand, you should at least investigate the product range.

Isagenix Products are world renowned

As a participant in the Isagenix diet and exercise provision scheme, you will be given permission to sell their unique diet and exercise products. The Isagenix range is tailored towards weight loss, diet, and exercise. It focuses on creating a healthier way of living to its customers.

As a consumer, you can try these products for yourself before you start recommending them to fitness clients. However, when you are gaining profits for every sale made in your region, that makes for a good enough reason to get involved.