The odds of making a successful acquisition are no greater than 50 percent. Follow these guidelines to increase your likelihood.
Making an acquisition should not be a strategic objective in itself. Objectives for drilling contractors should read more like, "We will grow annual revenues and profits 20 percent by expanding our core capabilities or increasing our geographic markets." In this growth scenario, acquiring a company or companies is a strategy that supports the corporate goal. Acquisitions can play a key part in several different potential strategies. However, some companies appear to forget about the underlying strategy that led them to choose to make acquisitions.