Overview
Supplies key - duplication equipment to retail outlets.

Opportunity / Threat
The company historically had specialized in supplying equipment to high-volume mass-market merchandisers. Now it was considering the acquisition of another company whose manual equipment was older and more difficult to operate but offered applications in some markets not previously served by Axxess.
Because the other company was a direct competitor, communication about the pros and cons of the potential acquisition was limited. In addition, the target firm was a union shop and twice the size of Axxess.

Action / Result
The company decided to host a Strategic Risk Analysis session involving all members of the management. The session was intended to allow team members to "kick the tires" and express any concerns before the deal was consummated.
Participants in the session ultimately felt they had raised all the potential concerns and found reasonable answers to potential challenges. The group recommended proceeding with the acquisition, and the acquisition was completed shortly thereafter. The company is now in the process of integrating the two operations.

Client Comments
"I think it was a great opportunity for people to be heard, to hear others' concerns and think it through. It was a great way to close the loop and present issues, to have reasonable answers on how to get around hurdles that might arise."
"For senior management it was a great sanity check: Did we think this through properly? Is there something we overlooked? We opened the dialog and took the discussion many layers below where we could before. So it was very worthwhile. We'd definitely do it again."
"It allowed people to participate and to express their concerns. At the end of the day we were a united group. We determined that not all the risks were entirely controllable, but we had good answers, and had reached a consensus that this was a shrewd decision and had a good chance to be successful."