What could arguably be deemed the strongest of the printing industry trade associations is now surveying its members, asking them to describe whether the future of “print” is grim or bright. They will get a wide range of responses, and setting aside the value of reporting to their members what those members already think, …
None of us wants to spend much time thinking about a potential crisis. The process of leading and growing a business is hard and stressful enough without playing “what if” games about disaster scenarios. But we do it anyway because we know that doing nothing is irresponsible and foolish. However, many of the disaster …
Let’s face it: creating and running a “job shop” sort of business was less complicated. You really only needed to do three things well — sell enough jobs, process the jobs efficiently and accurately, and get paid for doing them. That meant a simple structure was enough. You needed someone paying attention to sales, …
No, that title isn’t a typo. Mergers and acquisitions are getting lots of attention again. That means mine will probably be the most contrarian voice on the subject. Over the past 14 years, I’ve watched 8 different deals up close. So let me apologize in advance: I’m not a fan of mergers or acquisitions. …
“For every problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.”
― H.L. Mencken
Consolidation looks like the obvious play in a shrinking industry space: put two friendly competitors together, eliminate redundant / duplicative activities, pocket the savings and move along happily. Sounds simple and neat. Uh oh.
Newsflash: M&A isn’t easy …