158 Inside-out marketing
However, this kind of information may not be available when making decisions about internal communications and there may not be time to conduct extensive studies, such as when communication plans for mergers and acquisitions are being developed.
Mergers and acquisitions The importance of communication during change resulting from mergers and acquisitions has been emphasized in a book written by Feldman and Spratt of PricewaterhouseCoopers (1999), Five Frogs on a Log. The book draws on the authors’ experiences in helping organizations manage change and disruption resulting from mergers and acquisitions. (But note the final bullet point above from the article published in The Economist, July 2000, regarding the success or otherwise of change programmes and the use of consultants!) On the importance of internal communication, the authors state: Securing stakeholder acceptance and support for the change is one of the most powerful ways to stabilize the company during the transition period. It helps to accelerate the transition and drive higher levels of performance. The recent PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of 124 mergers and acquisitions provides dramatic support for this conclusion. Companies that implemented an effective post-deal communications strategy shortly after announcing the change reported significantly better results in such areas as customer focus, employee commitment, clarity of company direction, speed of decision making, and productivity than did those that delayed implementation of a communications strategy for three months or more. The communication of change is not about announcements. It’s about gaining support and capturing buy-in. Candid communication is a defensive perimeter and tactical edge – not just to transmit information or even to create awareness, but to build stakeholder acceptance, early support and full participation. It must be wielded like a weapon, a powerful tool for establishing leadership and direction and rallying the troops to the cause. (Feldman and Spratt, 1999, pp 69–71)
The high road and the low road Birkinshaw (1999) provides alternative considerations to those presented by Feldman and Spratt regarding the integration of companies following an acquisition or merger. Birkinshaw proposes two potential routes: the High Road and the Low Road. In very simple terms, the High Road