Mergers and Acquisitions Are Partnerships Too
Mergers and acquisitions are form of collaboration that fall on one extreme end of the Relationship Spectrum that is discussed in Remix Strategy (see this video for a brief explanation). As such, many of the lessons from managing collaboration between businesses in alliances and joint ventures can be applied to M&A. In particular, mergers and acquisitions need to obey the Three Laws of Business Combinations that are also explained in Remix Strategy. (See an excerpt here and videos here.)
Ben Gomes-Casseres specializes in applying these common rules of collaboration to M&A strategy. Read his comments on several recent M&A deals in the Harvard Business Review here.