Britain has blown its reputation as a world leader in aid
Blame a botched merger of its aid and diplomatic corps, lower spending, and more secrecy
MERGERS ALMOST always go wrong. Investors, rightly, worry when a corporate one is announced. Combining two organisations, their differing goals, incompatible IT systems and management structures, at best causes headaches. It always proves expensive. Cultures clash. People get distracted. According to the Harvard Business Review, 70-90% of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals fail. The only surprise is that the figure isn’t higher.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The trouble with mergers”
From the July 29th 2023 edition
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