Have You Thought About Your M&A Strategy Lately?

Though a company's operations are first and foremost the focus of a business, many companies and investors also rely heavily on buy-and-build strategies to scale up growth and enter new markets. While a strong organic growth strategy is vital to the success of a business, having an M&A strategy, whether passive or active, can keep businesses ahead of competitors and current in the market.

At the 2023 Mergermarket Corporate Development Forum Aalto attended in April, one panellist went so far as to recommend that all companies track their M&A pipeline as they would their sales pipeline and review both during board meetings.

This exercise has traditionally been restricted to large corporations with dedicated M&A teams and greater capacity. However, assigning a bit of time each month to review a company's M&A pipeline can be highly beneficial for companies of all sizes. Not only does it give businesses an avenue for exploring strategic tie-ups, but it also doubles as a healthy exercise in maintaining a business's awareness of its competitive landscape.

Tracking the activity of competitors, particularly those that the business sees as complementary or cutting-edge, gives a business the flexibility to stay ahead of competitors, act quickly when a competitor is put up for sale, and demonstrate to prospective investors that it has a clear understanding of the dynamics of its market.