Five Frogs on a Log: A Ceo's Field Guide to Accelerating the Transition in Mergers, Acquisitions and Gut Wrenching Change

by Michael F. Spratt and Mark L. Feldman

Book Overview

A riddle:
Five frogs are sitting on a log.
Four decide to jump off. How many are left?
Answer: Five
Why?
Because there's a difference between deciding and doing.

Written by Mark L. Feldman and Michael F. Spratt of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Five Frogs on a Log offers readers an entertaining and no-nonsense field guide to the mergers and acquisitions jungle, packed with insight and instruction for executing corporate change and...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 088730981X
• ISBN13: 9780887309816
• Release Date: December 1998
• Publisher: Harper Business
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

This book saved my company twice

I've purchased over 50 copies of this book. Before our first acquisition attempt, I bought this book for the entire executive team. We used it as a field manual. It was great. It gave us solid guidance and confidence while we were sorting out union accommodations and shareholder approvals. But, when union demands became difficult we remembered the authors saying that deal momentum often results in closing bad deals. This is because CEOs generally don't want to walk away from the high investment of time and resources they have already put into deal completion. The authors compellingly asserted that with the odds generally against acquisition success, if you can't do a deal on your terms, don't do it. After much debate we decided the authors had a point. We walked away from the deal. Looking back, this advice alone saved our company.Our second acquisition was completed. But the two management teams began to argue immediately. We set up transition teams and made certain everyone had a copy of "Five Frogs". This book became our bible for accelerating the integration of the companies. The guidelines on post-deal priorities, reorganization and communication helped break through every impasse. We followed their advice to the letter and we've been growing profitably ever since. We are still following the book's advice and I'm still giving copies of the book to new colleagues and other CEOs. If you're going to merge two companies, do what we did. Buy this book for every member of the management team and insist that they read it. You'll be glad you did.

It's All About Speed, Focus and Direction

If you're about to do a deal, it's a must read. If you've been through a deal, it's still a must read -- because you'll surely recognize yourself in every chapter. I learned that the principal lesson of this book is that speed, focus and direction make the difference in successful integrations. It's clear that successful deals do not hinge just on strategy -- but on the execution of that strategy. I've seen too many companies focus all of their efforts on the strategy and hope that the actual integration will take care of itself. Five stars for Five Frogs because it's not only informative, it's helpful and entertaining.

Unexpectedly fun to read!

I had expected to get a dry, formulaic tome on standard business practices from a couple of long-time PWC executives. What I found in this book is actually an entertaining and deeply insightful guide to merger and acquisition integration strategy. I also found it to have actionable recommendations, and would urge anyone working on a merger or acquisition to READ THIS FIRST!

The best merger/acquisition book on the market!

Congratulations on writing the very best Merger/Acquisition book on the market! My entire management team is truly impressed.Because of recent (and at this time, confidential) activities planned for our Company, and with little experience in the acquisition/merger process, I have been searching for (and read) many books on the same topic. I found your book at the suggestion of Barns and Noble's web site (top of their best seller list).Your book is a no-nonsense practical approach that to-date has been an invaluable reference for our management team. Of the 9 books I've either read each page (as well as a dozen others I've just skimmed that are not worth reading), yours is by far the very best. In particular, the section on "culture" (what it REALLY is and what actions are necessary), on transition teams, on executive comp. for the transition (yes, I am a Frederick Herzberg and Alfie Kohn fan, but with this type of major change, the carrot-and -stick lives!), the danger of 260 priorities (we're probably at 262 but now understand how to back-off), and perhaps most "world class" is the communications chapter (we just spent about $10m on a communications consultant who should read your book!)I would be remiss not to point our one small error: Page 62, first full paragraph, I believe you meant to reference the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN), not the "Warren Act." This is a common error we Human Resources people see due to dictating machines and listening to tapes.Please let me know if you have had any follow-up publications, especially if you have more detailed advice on organizational design. Thanks for making our jobs easier and making us "look good" by simply taking your advice.Jim Gray, Vice President - Human Resources, Asten, Inc.

Roadmap to successfull integration & become the"Streets"hero

Five Frogs portraits the risks and provides CEO level solutions for successful integration of your recent acquisition. Feldman and Spratt demonstrate why their accelerated approach towards business integration maximizes stakeholder benefits (investor, customer, employee, supplier) and provides the new organization with tools to blend two cultures, stabilize the organization and achieve early wins.