M&A Dilemma: To Buy or not to Buy?

"Growth is seriously challenged and business is under pressure. We need to make some inorganic moves.”
 “Company XYZ, our competitor, just became double our size, through an acquisition. We must do something.”
 “Country A just opened up its economy – we must acquire assets quickly, before every Tom and his uncle lands up.”
This is common lunch table conversation with CXOs in most companies across industries. M&A is seen as a quick fix out of distress or to exploit a sudden opportunity. For public companies, the glare on results quarter after quarter could create pressures particularly when the economy is facing headwinds. It is often easy to succumb to this pressure and buy yourself out of trouble.
Not surprisingly 70 percent to 90 percent of inorganic initiatives fail. They end up destroying shareholder value! Most suffer from “misalignment with the organizational strategy”, some from the CEO’s hubris and the rest from poor execution.
Organizational strategy or