CORPORATE MARRIAGE FEVER IS IN THE AIR
CORPORATE MARRIAGE FEVER IS IN THE AIR
Rite Aid gobbled up Thrifty Payless. Lockheed acquired Loral. Boeing topped the charts with the acquisition of McDonnell Douglas; and Bell Atlantic brought Nynex under its wing as Microsoft and Oracle continue to exhibit an almost insatiable appetite for new acquisitions. No industry is immune, whether it's a telecommunications firm, a hardware or software company, a chain of funeral parlors, or an organization that sells insurance.
Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) are quickly becoming part of the natural order of things as management and members of the board look for new ways to grow their organizations' sales and profits. We are rapidly reshaping the corporate world in an environment where management struggles with anemic growth, global competition and a soaring stock market that fattens the coffers of firms that are on the prowl.
...more
Senior managers are under tremendous pressure to produce growth, but after a decade of downsizing, cuts have been so deep that further cost reductions are no longer an option for improving their bottom lines. And with increased global competition, raising prices is out of the question. Other approaches to growth such as the conglomerates that were the rage in the late '80s, have also disappeared. Few managers today feel that it's smart to look outside their core businesses. Most of the conglomerates that were made with widely disparate companies have shed many of their "treasures" and returned to the businesses they know best.
Because of deregulation and the dissolution of international trade barriers, however, new opportunities are emerging in the form of mergers and acquisitions.
Strong Corporate Image Vital for the Hunter and the Hunted
Whether your company is a hunter or has the potential for being one of the hunted, a strong and effective public relations program can have a profound effect on both short-term results and long-term survival (your company's and yours). According to a report by Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) and some of the country's leading merger advisers, corporate image can play a major part in what sells a company and it's products ... and at what price.
A strong corporate image can pave the way for profit-hungry chief executives and boards of directors to acquire their competition. At the same time, a positive corporate image can make the acquisition of your ` ...more
organization more costly to the hunter and more beneficial to employees and shareholders.
ORC's study showed that in today's marketplace, product lifecycles have shrunk dramatically. As a result, developing a positive umbrella image is more beneficial than focusing on the image of individual products. The collective knowledge of customers, stockholders, bankers, brokers, dealers, distributors and the media can significantly affect its sales, earnings, valuation and the firm's ability to attract quality employees.
Unfortunately, many public relations professionals and company officials don't focus much attention on their corporate image ... until it's too late.
By the time some organizations take a look at their corporate image, the wolves are already at the gates.
Helping management see the cause and effect of a strong versus a weak image, as well as the direct and indirect benefits, is one of the most valuable services a PR person can provide to his or her management. Many PR people can't or won't address the development of a positive corporate image because it requires skillful, long-term planning. Even though we increasingly live in a world of instant gratification, corporate image development shouldn't be limited solely to the next few weeks or months. Instead, efforts should be undertaken with the idea of creating an impression that will last for many years.
Corporate image is the perceived sum of the entire organization, its objectives and plans. It encompasses products, services, management style, communications activities and the firm's actions around the globe.
...more
Benefits of a Strong Image
According to A.C. Neilson, 50 brands that are currently leaders in their respective categories will lose their positions of leadership in less than two years. A strong corporate image can extend a product's life. It can also buoy a firm through inevitable sales valleys by providing:
* Managers with increased awareness of the firm's long-range goals.
* More clearly defined corporate objectives and direction.
* Improved insight into competitive positions and market conditions.
* Improved internal and external communications.
* A positive accounting of the firm's position in the industry and the marketplace for customers and channels of distribution
* Enhanced perception of the company's value among shareholders, the financial community and customers
* Better understanding of the company, its objectives and its direction by employees, suppliers, customers, financial institutions and the media.
Image Influences
Publicity and advertising are only two aspects in the formation of a firm's image. By addressing the corporate image head-on, communications people can become more valuable to the entire organization because corporate image includes everything a company is, says and does. The areas that influence an organizations image include:
* The product -- Consistent high quality from people like Hewlett Packard, Compaq, Mercedes Benz, Panasonic and others has set these companies above their competition.
* Service -- In recent years, Nordstrom has become the benchmark for providing service. Fast food firms, computer and communications companies, airlines and even package delivery services measure their service programs against this regional retailer. The extent of the firm's reputation for quality service is so widespread that even foreign dignitaries make it a point to visit a Nordstrom store when they are in certain cities.
...more
* Finance -- When well-known, reputable companies have short-term setbacks in sales and earnings, there is less concern in the marketplace. The financial strength of organizations like Microsoft, IBM, HP, J.C.
Penney and others are strong factors in corporate and individual purchasing decisions and bode well for their future successes.
* Acquisition policy -- a company's growth through acquisition generally tells many publics that the firm is sound. How the M&A activity is undertaken and the way it is presented to the company's many audiences can have a direct effect on a company's image. While sometimes feared and criticized for it size and industry position, Microsoft has produced
an excellent reputation, inside and outside the firm, for its efforts to assimilate new acquisitions into the existing corporate structures.
Launching a Corporate Image
PR people often fail in their corporate image development/protection efforts because they start with an ill-conceived set of objectives and inadequate plan. There are certain steps which must be followed in launching a corporate image communications program. They include:
* An honest evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the company's current image. Define the factors that determine that image and asses the underlying emotional attributes to these factors. Neutral images require that a choice be made between maintaining status quo and promoting expansion and growth. Corporations with positive images need to aggressively promote and expand that image.
* Defining the image that the firm wants to project. Every firm wants to be perceived as a profitable, well-managed, forward-looking, research-oriented company that is growing rapidly and leading its marketplace. They also want to project themselves as kind and beneficial to their employees, stockholders and customers. Carve out a niche that is unique to your own organization.
* Determining a course of action that appeals to the largest possible number in your target audience.
* Creating audience-specific "selling" themes. Make certain that each selling theme is compatible and in line with the overall image theme.
...more
Public relations can be a catalyst by coordinating every channel of communications to build the desired image. But it requires PR people to step well outside the shelter of their traditional publicity activities. It requires understanding and involving oneself with advertising, sales people, letterhead, shipping labels, invoices, employee training manuals, brochures, posters, business cards, samples, trademarks, product labels, articles, news releases, trade booth displays and other internal and external promotional vehicles.
Target Audiences
Defining your target audience is an important part of launching an effective image development and/or reinforcement campaign. Most companies seek to influence:
* Customers--Utilize every resource to research and define direct and indirect customers. Then, find the most effective method to present your firm to these audiences.
* Shareholders--By knowing your shareholders, their degree of involvement in the company and their interests, you can develop a communications program that will create a strong network extension of your sales force.
* The Investment Community--Keep security analysts, brokers and bankers aware of the company, its management, its plans and its successes.
* Employees--By working with this influential group, management can instill a sense of involvement in common goals that will increase productivity, curb turnover and create a working environment. It will also make it easier to attract the types of people necessary to ensure future success.
* Suppliers--These people can have a strong influence on the success or failure of your corporate image campaign and your firm. Despite its early days, Dell has cultivated a feeling of trust and interdependence with suppliers to the point where the company is able to maintain
...more
virtually no production inventory producing significant savings which
can go directly to the company's bottomline. To achieve this, however, both sides should feel that they are an integral part of the other's success.
* The Media--Establish, maintain, and constantly reinforce your relationships with members of the press at all levels--nationally and locally. A good relationship can assist in communicating or amplifying your firm's position.
Reaching Your Audiences
Once you've identified and prioritized your various audiences, you are ready to develop and execute specific programs and plans to reach and influence these audiences:
* Shareholder Relations--Use management and public relations to develop and maintain your image with shareholders via a carefully
planned and executed program of communications, annual reports, quarterlies, special reports and shareholder meetings.
* Financial community relations--PR people should assist senior management by regularly providing financial analysts, brokers and bankers with company "white papers," industry position statements, and regular mailings to keep them well-informed.
* Employee relations--Make certain that employees understand that their skills, attitudes and dedication are a large part of what makes up the company's image and that it helps ensure the firm's future success.
* Customer relations--Let present and prospective channel partners and customers know that the firm realizes that its success is closely tied to its customers' continued acceptance of the company, its products and its services.
* Industry and trade relations--Every company is part of an industry which includes customers, suppliers and competitors. Each of these groups influence the company's image. Management should regularly communicate its image within the industry by:
- Keeping the press informed
- Participating in trade associations
- Participating in trade councils
- Being spokespersons for industry needs, issues and goals
- Promoting for the overall good of the industry
...more
Plan of Action
Once an audit of the company's image has been completed and priorities on the various aspects of the image program have been established, you're ready to move forward.
Keep in mind that a good image deserves a proper presentation. You are trying to inspire, motivate and either change or reinforce thought patterns and associations evoked by your organization. This is an art. It can only be accomplished through fastidious application. Your program must be directed to the right people at the right time. It must be presented in the most beneficial atmosphere.
Generally, the molding of a corporate image cannot be accomplished overnight. An undesirable corporate identity is a lot like obesity. It takes a long time to develop the symptoms, and it will probably take just as long, if not longer, to produce significant improvement. It is a multi-faceted activity that will ultimately involve everyone in the organization.
A sound corporate image is no substitute for fair dealings and quality products. But with companies of all shapes and sizes looking at acquiring a company or being acquired, image can do considerable for leveraging your organization for management, employees and shareholders. A company's ability to communicate a favorable and progressive image adds equity in sales, profits and corporate "value."
In other words, with the conditions right for even more takeover activity, it can have a profound effect on the bottom line.
# # #
CORPORATE MARRIAGE FEVER IS IN THE AIR - To learn more about this author, visit Andy Marken's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
Last year, merger and acquisition activity soared to nearly $650 billion-- three times the 1998 level--causing concern and unrest in almost every company and industry. There were four to five transactions a day in nearly every business segment. Industry analysts feel that the trend will continue as companies become more global in their activities.
Rite Aid gobbled up Thrifty Payless. Lockheed acquired Loral. Boeing topped the charts with the acquisition of McDonnell Douglas; and Bell Atlantic brought Nynex under its wing as Microsoft and Oracle continue to exhibit an almost insatiable appetite for new acquisitions. No industry is immune, whether it's a telecommunications firm, a hardware or software company, a chain of funeral parlors, or an organization that sells insurance.
Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) are quickly becoming part of the natural order of things as management and members of the board look for new ways to grow their organizations' sales and profits. We are rapidly reshaping the corporate world in an environment where management struggles with anemic growth, global competition and a soaring stock market that fattens the coffers of firms that are on the prowl.
...more
Senior managers are under tremendous pressure to produce growth, but after a decade of downsizing, cuts have been so deep that further cost reductions are no longer an option for improving their bottom lines. And with increased global competition, raising prices is out of the question. Other approaches to growth such as the conglomerates that were the rage in the late '80s, have also disappeared. Few managers today feel that it's smart to look outside their core businesses. Most of the conglomerates that were made with widely disparate companies have shed many of their "treasures" and returned to the businesses they know best.
Because of deregulation and the dissolution of international trade barriers, however, new opportunities are emerging in the form of mergers and acquisitions.
Strong Corporate Image Vital for the Hunter and the Hunted
Whether your company is a hunter or has the potential for being one of the hunted, a strong and effective public relations program can have a profound effect on both short-term results and long-term survival (your company's and yours). According to a report by Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) and some of the country's leading merger advisers, corporate image can play a major part in what sells a company and it's products ... and at what price.
A strong corporate image can pave the way for profit-hungry chief executives and boards of directors to acquire their competition. At the same time, a positive corporate image can make the acquisition of your ` ...more
organization more costly to the hunter and more beneficial to employees and shareholders.
ORC's study showed that in today's marketplace, product lifecycles have shrunk dramatically. As a result, developing a positive umbrella image is more beneficial than focusing on the image of individual products. The collective knowledge of customers, stockholders, bankers, brokers, dealers, distributors and the media can significantly affect its sales, earnings, valuation and the firm's ability to attract quality employees.
Unfortunately, many public relations professionals and company officials don't focus much attention on their corporate image ... until it's too late.
By the time some organizations take a look at their corporate image, the wolves are already at the gates.
Helping management see the cause and effect of a strong versus a weak image, as well as the direct and indirect benefits, is one of the most valuable services a PR person can provide to his or her management. Many PR people can't or won't address the development of a positive corporate image because it requires skillful, long-term planning. Even though we increasingly live in a world of instant gratification, corporate image development shouldn't be limited solely to the next few weeks or months. Instead, efforts should be undertaken with the idea of creating an impression that will last for many years.
Corporate image is the perceived sum of the entire organization, its objectives and plans. It encompasses products, services, management style, communications activities and the firm's actions around the globe.
...more
Benefits of a Strong Image
According to A.C. Neilson, 50 brands that are currently leaders in their respective categories will lose their positions of leadership in less than two years. A strong corporate image can extend a product's life. It can also buoy a firm through inevitable sales valleys by providing:
* Managers with increased awareness of the firm's long-range goals.
* More clearly defined corporate objectives and direction.
* Improved insight into competitive positions and market conditions.
* Improved internal and external communications.
* A positive accounting of the firm's position in the industry and the marketplace for customers and channels of distribution
* Enhanced perception of the company's value among shareholders, the financial community and customers
* Better understanding of the company, its objectives and its direction by employees, suppliers, customers, financial institutions and the media.
Image Influences
Publicity and advertising are only two aspects in the formation of a firm's image. By addressing the corporate image head-on, communications people can become more valuable to the entire organization because corporate image includes everything a company is, says and does. The areas that influence an organizations image include:
* The product -- Consistent high quality from people like Hewlett Packard, Compaq, Mercedes Benz, Panasonic and others has set these companies above their competition.
* Service -- In recent years, Nordstrom has become the benchmark for providing service. Fast food firms, computer and communications companies, airlines and even package delivery services measure their service programs against this regional retailer. The extent of the firm's reputation for quality service is so widespread that even foreign dignitaries make it a point to visit a Nordstrom store when they are in certain cities.
...more
* Finance -- When well-known, reputable companies have short-term setbacks in sales and earnings, there is less concern in the marketplace. The financial strength of organizations like Microsoft, IBM, HP, J.C.
Penney and others are strong factors in corporate and individual purchasing decisions and bode well for their future successes.
* Acquisition policy -- a company's growth through acquisition generally tells many publics that the firm is sound. How the M&A activity is undertaken and the way it is presented to the company's many audiences can have a direct effect on a company's image. While sometimes feared and criticized for it size and industry position, Microsoft has produced
an excellent reputation, inside and outside the firm, for its efforts to assimilate new acquisitions into the existing corporate structures.
Launching a Corporate Image
PR people often fail in their corporate image development/protection efforts because they start with an ill-conceived set of objectives and inadequate plan. There are certain steps which must be followed in launching a corporate image communications program. They include:
* An honest evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the company's current image. Define the factors that determine that image and asses the underlying emotional attributes to these factors. Neutral images require that a choice be made between maintaining status quo and promoting expansion and growth. Corporations with positive images need to aggressively promote and expand that image.
* Defining the image that the firm wants to project. Every firm wants to be perceived as a profitable, well-managed, forward-looking, research-oriented company that is growing rapidly and leading its marketplace. They also want to project themselves as kind and beneficial to their employees, stockholders and customers. Carve out a niche that is unique to your own organization.
* Determining a course of action that appeals to the largest possible number in your target audience.
* Creating audience-specific "selling" themes. Make certain that each selling theme is compatible and in line with the overall image theme.
...more
Public relations can be a catalyst by coordinating every channel of communications to build the desired image. But it requires PR people to step well outside the shelter of their traditional publicity activities. It requires understanding and involving oneself with advertising, sales people, letterhead, shipping labels, invoices, employee training manuals, brochures, posters, business cards, samples, trademarks, product labels, articles, news releases, trade booth displays and other internal and external promotional vehicles.
Target Audiences
Defining your target audience is an important part of launching an effective image development and/or reinforcement campaign. Most companies seek to influence:
* Customers--Utilize every resource to research and define direct and indirect customers. Then, find the most effective method to present your firm to these audiences.
* Shareholders--By knowing your shareholders, their degree of involvement in the company and their interests, you can develop a communications program that will create a strong network extension of your sales force.
* The Investment Community--Keep security analysts, brokers and bankers aware of the company, its management, its plans and its successes.
* Employees--By working with this influential group, management can instill a sense of involvement in common goals that will increase productivity, curb turnover and create a working environment. It will also make it easier to attract the types of people necessary to ensure future success.
* Suppliers--These people can have a strong influence on the success or failure of your corporate image campaign and your firm. Despite its early days, Dell has cultivated a feeling of trust and interdependence with suppliers to the point where the company is able to maintain
...more
virtually no production inventory producing significant savings which
can go directly to the company's bottomline. To achieve this, however, both sides should feel that they are an integral part of the other's success.
* The Media--Establish, maintain, and constantly reinforce your relationships with members of the press at all levels--nationally and locally. A good relationship can assist in communicating or amplifying your firm's position.
Reaching Your Audiences
Once you've identified and prioritized your various audiences, you are ready to develop and execute specific programs and plans to reach and influence these audiences:
* Shareholder Relations--Use management and public relations to develop and maintain your image with shareholders via a carefully
planned and executed program of communications, annual reports, quarterlies, special reports and shareholder meetings.
* Financial community relations--PR people should assist senior management by regularly providing financial analysts, brokers and bankers with company "white papers," industry position statements, and regular mailings to keep them well-informed.
* Employee relations--Make certain that employees understand that their skills, attitudes and dedication are a large part of what makes up the company's image and that it helps ensure the firm's future success.
* Customer relations--Let present and prospective channel partners and customers know that the firm realizes that its success is closely tied to its customers' continued acceptance of the company, its products and its services.
* Industry and trade relations--Every company is part of an industry which includes customers, suppliers and competitors. Each of these groups influence the company's image. Management should regularly communicate its image within the industry by:
- Keeping the press informed
- Participating in trade associations
- Participating in trade councils
- Being spokespersons for industry needs, issues and goals
- Promoting for the overall good of the industry
...more
Plan of Action
Once an audit of the company's image has been completed and priorities on the various aspects of the image program have been established, you're ready to move forward.
Keep in mind that a good image deserves a proper presentation. You are trying to inspire, motivate and either change or reinforce thought patterns and associations evoked by your organization. This is an art. It can only be accomplished through fastidious application. Your program must be directed to the right people at the right time. It must be presented in the most beneficial atmosphere.
Generally, the molding of a corporate image cannot be accomplished overnight. An undesirable corporate identity is a lot like obesity. It takes a long time to develop the symptoms, and it will probably take just as long, if not longer, to produce significant improvement. It is a multi-faceted activity that will ultimately involve everyone in the organization.
A sound corporate image is no substitute for fair dealings and quality products. But with companies of all shapes and sizes looking at acquiring a company or being acquired, image can do considerable for leveraging your organization for management, employees and shareholders. A company's ability to communicate a favorable and progressive image adds equity in sales, profits and corporate "value."
In other words, with the conditions right for even more takeover activity, it can have a profound effect on the bottom line.
# # #
CORPORATE MARRIAGE FEVER IS IN THE AIR - To learn more about this author, visit Andy Marken's Website.
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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