英语翻译
6
Acquisitionsandthe
ManagementProcess
Effectiveduediligenceisfundamental
tomakinggoodacquisitions.
-Emersonaxiom
AcquisitionshavebeencentraltoEmerson'sgrowthandsuccessfordecades.Theyareavitalcomponentofourfinancialmodel(seeexhibit2-1inchapter2):wecannotconsistentlyreachourtargetofdouble-digitannualearningsgrowthwithoutdoingdeals.Theorganicgrowthofourexistingbusinesses,evenwithourabilitytoimproveoperatingmargins,won'tgetusthere.
Beyondtheircontributiontoourfinancialperformance,acquisitionsgenerateadditionalvaluablebenefits:theyhelpusdiversifyandrepositionourportfolioandgainaccesstonewtechnology,markets,capabilities,andpeople.Forallthesereasons,then,itisessentialthatwedoacquisitionswell.
Overtime,we'velearnedhowtododeals.Between1973and2000,wecompletedmorethantwohundredacquisitionsforacumulativeinvestmentofmorethan$10billion.Forcompaniesownedmorethanfiveyears,Emersonachievedanaverageinternalrateofreturnofapproximately15percent,withmorethan80percentofthedollarsinvestedexceedingourcostofcapital(see
exhibit6-1).Thissuccessrateisunusuallyhigh.Numerousacademicstudieshavefoundthatacquisitionsareariskywaytogenerategrowthandonaveragegeneratereturnssignificantlybelowthecostofcapital.
TheEmersonmanagementprocesshasbeenthekeytooursuccessinthisarea,justasitwaspivotalinourbecomingatechnologyleader.Theprocesshelpsusselectgoodcandidatesandmanagepostmergerintegrationeffectively.Atthesametime,ithelpsusachievestrongresultsquicklyinthecompaniesweacquire.