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revenue synergy - same or different?

business concepts
New answer on Nov 10, 2021
5 Answers
776 Views
Anonymous A asked on Nov 08, 2021

If two companies merge, is 1) cross-selling opportunity 2) multi sales channel opportunity (for eg if one used online but you did only retail) and 3) Multi geography opportunity (if you are local and they are global)..all 3 DISTINCT revenue upside ideas? Or would this be the same because ultimately the common denominator is “more sales/customers"? Just wanted to know if i can list these as 3 different brainstorming ideas on what are synergies from merger or would interviewers consider this the same thing?

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Adi
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Nov 09, 2021
Accenture, Deloitte | Precision Case Prep | Experienced Interviewer & Career Coach | 15 years professional experience

Hi,

  • Are you looking at cost savings/revenue synergies once the two firms have merged?
  • or is your question about evaluating synergies to make a decision on go/no-go for M&A or for integration once the M&A is done?

Cost Saving & Revenue synergies

  • Complementary products/services
  • Channel (retail, online, phone etc)
  • Supply chain synergies
  • Shared IT
  • People synergies (from CEO to ground staff)
  • Scale efficiencies/Capital

Evaluating synergies for go/no-go

  • Financial analysis
  • Customer segments
  • Product/Service mix
  • Supply Chain

Integration

  • Processes
  • People
  • IT stack

Pick out the most relevant ones depending on the case and elaborate on key points. No need to drill too much per area..1 or 2 examples are good enough. Keep your overall structure to 3-4 branches.

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Hagen
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replied on Nov 09, 2021
#1 Bain coach | >95% success rate | interviewer for 8+ years | mentor and coach for 7+ years

Hi there,

This is indeed an interesting question which is probably relevant for quite a lot of users, so I am happy to provide my perspective on it:

  • Generally speaking, yes, these are distinct revenue synergies who ultimately still all drive an increase in revenues.
  • I would advise you to structure your ideas, for instance in 1) synergies penetrating existing markets and 2) synergies expanding existing markets. Moreover, you can also think of product bundling as an additional synergy similar but still different to cross-selling.

In case you want a more detailed discussion on how to best approach M&A case studies, please feel free to contact me directly.

I hope this helps,

Hagen

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Antonello
Expert
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replied on Nov 09, 2021
McKinsey | NASA | top 10 FT MBA professor for consulting interviews | 6+ years of coaching

Hi!

There is indeed some overlap. 

Try to structure these synergies based on key buckets (e.g. clients, distribution channels, etc.) and their impact on volume and price to be MECEer.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Anto

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Ian
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replied on Nov 09, 2021
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Hi there,

To be honest I don't really understand your third synergy. What about the multi geographies is a synergy? Geographies in-and-of-themselves are not synergies…rather you have to say what synergy is taking place (cross-selling, bundling, data analytics, etc.).

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Pedro
Expert
replied on Nov 10, 2021
Bain | Roland Berger | EY-Parthenon | Mentoring Approach | 30% off first 10 sessions in May| Market Sizing | DARDEN MBA

You have to phrase it differently for those to be distinct revenue upside opportunities, because in (2) and (3) you are cross-selling (1).

The way I would say it would be:

1) Cross Sell to current customer base (in current channels and countries)

2) Expand to new channels

3) Expand to new countries

Of course, these are all a subset of increasing the number of customers. Please note they are not the same synergy, but rather distinct subsets of the same type of synergy.

So you can present “more customers” as the first layer, and those 3 ideas as the second layer. Which is actually what you should do - staying only at the first layer is very generic and not considered a strong response.

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Adi gave the best answer

Adi

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Accenture, Deloitte | Precision Case Prep | Experienced Interviewer & Career Coach | 15 years professional experience
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