Brand mergers: A marriage of brand fit
Mergers run a high risk of failure if the parties involved do not fully understand how the respective brands and cultures will fit together, warns Terry Tyrrell
The body count of high-profile and now deceased mergers & acquisitions includes AOL-Time Warner, HP-Compaq, Alcatel-Lucent, Daimler Benz-Chrysler, Mattel-The Learning Company and Novell-WordPerfect, to name but a few.
Some mergers failed so spectacularly that the combined company went belly-up; others ensured the demise of their masterminds. Some companies struggled to reverse their fortunes but not without substantial cost, while others were simply bad ideas doomed from...