Cross-Border Merger

Case study of Australian SAP Consultancy Benelong Consulting Merge with Swiss-based Lodestone Management Consultants

The merger between Australian SAP Consultancy Benelong Consulting and Swiss-based Lodestone Management Consultants led to the formation of Lodestone Management Consultants Pty Ltd in Australia. The Lodestone Management Consultants is one of the successful cross-border mergers in Australia. The merger of the two companies occurred on 20th June 2007. While announcing the merger, Bradley Burt -the Benelong director announced that the new corporation is a triumph for people-focussed consulting and client-centric. One of the reasons for Lodestone, success is that companies were established by big consultancies’ senior people. They shared their vision and approach. 

Lodestone Management Consultants implements and designs solutions which solve issues faced by large businesses whose strategic platform is SAP. The company was founded in Agust 2005, and its headquarters are in Zurich, Switzerland. On the other hand, the incorporation of Benelong Benelong Consulting (Benelong) was in 2003. The company grew as one of the important and fruitful systems integration, business software; consulting and support businesses in the Australian SAP marketplace and its headquarters are in Sydney. The two companies are an excellent example of successful multinational enterprises.

According to the managers, they believe that their strongest asset in the consulting business was their people. The directors after identifying their employees as the most substantial assets decided to treat them properly. The employees, in turn, would treat the clients correctly. The strategy had a resonance to their respective SAP markets due to a health growth enjoyed by both organization and especially Lodestone.  The three Benellong directors Paul McLaren, Bradley Burt and Anthony Buntic bought into the partnership to be Lodestone Partners. 

The company succeeded because the partnership was not just beneficial to the directors but to their consultants too. The consultants enjoyed the benefit of being part of a new company using similar values as the old one but offering them an international career path to the partner. The merge grew stronger as the two companies worked together on their client’s projects. What strengthened the relationship was the fact that they shared their business outlook.

The two companies’ before merging had worked together on several projects. Some of the projects included Allianz Australia project, SAP implementation project for Kimberly- the senior manager and Clark- Joe Marsella, Global Systems Asia Pacific immediately identified the synergy potential between the companies. The both companies shared the benefits equally where Lodestone gained a sound, proven base in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region while Benelong developed a global network and additional capabilities as well as giving Lodestone accessibility the SAP consultants in Australia in its international operations. The factors of the companies coming together have had a rapid growth. 

Another reason for the cross-border success merger was the prior relationship between the two companies with other countries. In Europe, Lodestone was a trusted SAP partner due to the great SAP implementation track records. Their merging has assisted in completing each other by bringing an extensive SAP expertise in their individual market. The newly built company works with the slogan ‘think global, act locally.’” For instance, Belong is acting locally but thinking globally due to the international cooperation. This has increased the benefits the company is enjoying from the merger.

Some of the recommendations for successful enterprises as drawn from the case study include recognition of partners and employees in driving the agility of business. Multinational corporations should be open-minded in meeting their technological needs. The enterprises should learn to listen to their customers to boost customer relationships. They should also exploit all their connectivity’s by using their mobile connectivity to promote employees operations  

Bibliographies

Macek, Anita. “Benefits and Threats of Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions for European Transition Countries.” Economics Question, Issues and Problems, 2014: 14-24.

OECD. Competition Law & Policy OECD: Economic Evidence in Merger Analysis. 2011.

SAP. Oxygene: A DXC Technology Company. n.d. http://www.uxcoxygen.com/ (accessed April 16, 2017).

World, PC. “Australian SAP Consultancy Merges with Swiss Consultancy.” PC World. June 20, 2007. http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/mediareleases/286/australian-sap-consultancy-merges-with-swiss-consu/ (accessed April 16, 2017).