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Jay Chatzkel

"Mr. Chatzkel and Mr. Saint-Onge have written an eminently readable book that offers real-world guidance that is right on target for today's deal environment. Statistics support that a successful M&A strategy can truly deliver exceptional value from a number of vantage points. As a principal in a company that builds tools that help to streamline and accelerate M&A processes, I understand that this high-value activity is not without risk. In fact, a significant percentage of deals fail to achieve the announced value and some end up as costly mistakes. Much of this is due to poor planning, incomplete due diligence and slow, chaotic integration.

Beyond the Deal takes you through the process step-by-step, highlighting success factors as well as factors that commonly derail integrations. If M&A is part of your growth strategy, then read this book. If you are in the middle of a deal, then read this book. Whether you are a new student to the world of M&A or a veteran who has 'seen it all,' you should definitely read this book."
Lawrence Dell, Co-founder
e-know, Inc.


"Too many M&A deals take place when two senior executives fall in "lust". Time-Warner/AOL is one current example of a transaction that has not created breakthrough performance. In the current economic environment, we will see more arranged business marriages. Read Beyond the Deal to make your deal a success. The book uses case studies and clear graphics to teach us how to make a quantum leap in corporate performance. I also appreciate the emphasis on the importance of leveraging intangibles as part of the business model Read the success factors at the end of each chapter and you will create a better company. Make this book a must read in 2009 if you are thinking about aligning with another corporate entity. You will know what questions to ask BEFORE you do the deal."
Sharon Oriel, Co-Founder, Advisor
Gathering 2.0


"Don't do a major acquisition without reading this book"
Robert C. Walcott, Ph.D., founder and director, Kellogg Innovation Network


“Hubert Saint-Onge and his colleague Jay Chatzkel have cracked the code on why most acquisitions fail to live up to their potential. Best of all, they provide step-by-step guidance to ensure success. Beyond the Deal should be required reading before the deal for anyone considering a merger or acquisition.”
George H. Labovitz, Founder and CEO. Organization Dynamics International


"A must read for anyone contemplating an acquisition doing the deal is usually the easy part!”
John Shackleton, CEO, Open Text

Tools and strategies to achieve greater deal success

"One benefit of a sluggish M&A market is the opportunity it affords corporate development executives to fine-tune their internal deal operation. There are plenty of books available to help dealmakers do just that, and one of the most recent is "Beyond the Deal: Mergers & Acquisitions that Achieve Breakthrough Performance Gains." In it, Hubert Saint-Onge and Jay Chatzkel offer up a systematic framework that takes dealmakers through each stage of an acquisition.

Half the book, not surprisingly, is dedicated to integration, and one chapter in particular offers "springboards" to achieve what the authors term a "quantum leap integration." In short, it's an integration that gets the people, strategies and systems of the newly merged organization aligned quickly and efficiently. According to Saint-Onge, an organizational strategy consultant and former executive at Shell, and Chatzkel, a strategy consultant, those springboards include a customer strategy to identify and retain the most profitable customers; a company strategy that ensures that your organizational capability is aligned to realize your customer and business strategies; a plan to establish the culture and leadership of the combined organization; and a plan to identify the most advantageous IT systems."

Suzanne Stevens,The Deal.Com
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Beyond the Deal Book Review

"KM practitioners in organisations on either side of a merger or an acquisition will benefit from this book. It provides a framework for understanding how the experience should run (and what can go wrong when those responsible don’t appreciate the complexities of the challenge in front of them) – and, more important, ways in which KM can add value in this process."

Matt MoorAEe, Inside Knowledge, Book Review
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Deal's done: How to make it really work

"In a knowledge era, our knowledge of how to make M&As successful seems woefully inadequate. Hubert Saint-Onge, a Waterloo, Ont.-based consultant well known for his work with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Clarica, and Arizona-based consultant Jay Chatzkel hope to change that with their book, Beyond The Deal, which takes readers beyond the tactics of forging a merger to the less glamorous aspects of making it work.

Traditionally, acquisitions are focused on synergies to be gained either from cutting costs or from growing the combined business. The authors believe a third strategy is needed, fusing those two into a "value-creating" approach that will provide a quantum leap in performance.

Most M&As start with the prospect of buying something valuable. The acquirer might get greater plant capacity or an expanded product line or increased market share or an opportunity to cut costs in the overall entity. But the authors argue that, underlying those tangible things, are an array of powerful intangible capabilities that must be identified and understood if the acquisition is to create value."

Harvey Schachter The Globe and Mail
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