When Mergers Fail Before They Begin

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS are often portrayed as moments of strategic daring - the resolute step towards scale, innovation, and market dominance.

- By Srinath Sridharan & Steve Correa

In India’s dynamic business environment, this story is compelling. A deal is agreed upon, the handshake is photographed, and the headlines talk of synergy and growth. But behind the ceremony, too many mergers falter - not because of the rough edges of regulation or competition, but on the smooth, quiet ground of internal blind spots.

Preparing for external obstacles is straightforward: sector-specific investment limits, foreign exchange regulations, and antitrust to prioritise the scale, values, and operational discipline of a global acquirer as urgently as one might expect.

The most telling symptom was CBS's reliance on “common sense” as its integration compass. While soothing in tone, it concealed a deep reluctance to engage with complexity. It assumed that harmony within CBS would naturally transform into harmony with ADBD - a grave underestimation of the cultural and operational divide between the two.

Equally noteworthy was the near-invisibility of ADBD in CBS's internal discourse. The realities of a global acquirer - its decision-making rhythm, compliance requirements, and operational discipline - hardly registered. This was not ignorance; it was a sign of a leadership culture tied to legacy norms, slow to recognise that the ground beneath them had shifted.

Such blind spots are not just minor oversights; they are essential weaknesses. They affect every examination. These are visible, codified, and procedural. More difficult are the unseen frictions of culture, leadership mindset, and emotional undercurrents. Yet, it is these - the unacknowledged human dynamics, the entrenched organisational reflexes - that quietly undermine the very logic of the deal.