Management due diligence is simply the process of appraising the senior management of a company, by evaluating each individual to help determine how effective they are towards accomplishing the strategic objectives of the company.
Why is management due diligence important? There are many times it is, but one of the most important is when closing business deals or merging businesses. Even though business acquisitions can serve as a major boost to market share, it’s also intrinsically risky and can lead to financial problems later if due diligence was neglected.
If you are giving serious consideration to either expanding your business through acquisition or otherwise conducting a major business deal, due diligence will be especially important.
With that in mind, here are the top tips for better due diligence for business acquisitions and deals:
Choose The Right Team of People
Fundamentally speaking, you need to have right team of specialists who know what they are doing. Due diligence is something that simply requires a team of highly knowledgeable and experienced professionals.
Specifically, you’re most likely going to need a team that includes each of the following at the bare minimum:
– HR Expert
– Tax Expert (and specifically an expert on tax evasion if you’re going to be merging with a major corporation)
– Product Developer
– Marketing Specialist
– Accountant
You may also need other or different people on your team depending on the circumstances, but that list should give you an idea of the kind of team you’re going to need.
Money Is Not Everything
When conducting due diligence before major business acquisitions, money is very likely to be a top concern for you. Specifically, you’re going to be looking hard at figures such as:
– Product Outreach
– Return on Investment
– Profit Margins
– Licensing Fees
– Turnover
– Additional Costs
– Debt (in the form of Operating Leases, Employment Agreements, Financial Guarantees, etc.)
Knowing the amounts of each of those is certainly very important, but it’s also not the only thing to be concerned about with due diligence either. Additional things that you will want to look at include product potential, market trends, and risk factors.
Don’t Neglect Customer Reactionhttps://www.edx.org/course/business-communication-ritx-skills101x-1
There’s an old saying that the ‘customer is always right.’ You’ll want to pay very closely to customer reaction before making any major business deal or acquisition.
For instance, have you ever given any thought to whether any customers will boycott your company if you merge with another one? Or on the brighter side of things, have you thought about if you’ll bring in any new customers after a business acquisition? If you’re going to be changing company focus on the customers you provide, have you weighed the customers you lose versus the customers your gain?
The point is that your customers, and specifically repeat customers, are truly the driving force behind your company. For this reason, it’s always a good idea to test customer reaction before making any major business moves, and therefore before due diligence management may even be necessary.
Keep As Many People Happy As You Can
Your customers are undoubtedly vitally important, but they’re also not the only people you want to try and keep happy. What about the people who are involved in the acquisition or importnat business deal you’re undertaking?
The most effective way to keep everyone happy in this event is communication. There are far too many acquisitions and mergers that have fallen apart throughout corporate history as a result of poor communication that led to the different parties involved becoming angry at one another.
This means that in the case of your own company, you will need to clearly explain to your senior management what due diligence is (just in case they don’t already know) and explain to them why you are doing it. You also need to keep communication clear with the other parties involved in the acquisition or deal as well.
Due Diligence Management For Businesses
Obviously due diligence management is not at all the only important thing you will need to be doing before either acquiring another business or closing a major business deal, and special circumstances in any business deal or acquisition will always be unique.
But there is also no denying that it’s one of the most important things, and that you’ll always want to include due diligence management as part of your overall business acquisition strategy.