An Accenture survey of top M&A executives across the US, Europe, and Asia revealed that when asked about the critical factors in successful M&A integration

• 55% singled out the orchestration of the integration process;
• over 40% mentioned understanding of cultural integration issues and the establishment of organisational structure and accountabilities;
• 30% emphasised commitment and leadership from top management and communication strategy.

According to the global learning provider, Tata Interactive Systems (TIS), makers of the TOPSIM® business simulation, this shows that the benefits of an acquisition are not generated automatically once that acquisition is over. They need to be achieved through skilful integration of the businesses, process, and people and their roles and functions.

Many M&A executives recognise the importance of the -˜soft' aspects of the integration process - aspects that deal with communications, organisational cultures and structures, and so on. Yet too many companies are under-prepared to deal with these aspects of an acquisition.

TIS has extended the range of its TOPSIM® workshops to address specific post-merger integration (PMI) issues. These PMI workshops guide participants through a series of post-merger scenarios that pose particular challenges in the areas of integration planning, expectation setting, and organisational culture and communication.

Manoj Kutty, TIS's president of simulations, commented, "TOPSIM is a management- development simulation that was developed over 25 years ago and is now used by over 100 companies and 400 universities worldwide. TOPSIM simulations, deployed in a blended workshop setting, offer the participant an in-depth understanding of functional skills along with managing the business operations within an industry such as banking, insurance, retail, and pharmaceuticals".

"It's about learning business by doing business - and, where the PMI workshops are concerned, providing a critical learning path for business integration managers."

Alan Samuel, TIS's head of operations in the UK, explained, "TOPSIM is not eLearning but blended learning that emphasises classroom-based and collaborative learning. A TOPSIM workshop is a simulation-based workshop that enables participants to understand the cause-effect relationships of their decisions in a -˜safe' game, play environment."

"The workshop is facilitated by domain experts who mentor the teams through the discussion and share in a process that is integral to the workshop's structure. The simulation that forms the core of the workshop telescopes a long-term horizon of three years into two days. Throughout the workshop, discussions are interspersed with the simulation."

TOPSIM® - PMI is a simulation-based management development programme where participants, in teams, manage the integration process of two software product companies that have recently merged.