Article at a glance:

Running a winning M&A shop

• Executives once thought of M&A, if they thought of it at all, in terms of only a few large deals a year and focused on synergies and cost cutting. Now many companies are looking for a number of smaller acquisitions that, when pulled together, might grow faster than individual ones would.
• This pursuit of growth through rapid-fire deal making has increased the pressure on M&A managers to get the underlying process right. Most companies are not prepared for the intense work of completing so many deals.
• There may be no single approach that every company can use to ensure success, but the companies most admired for their deft management of M&A exhibit some common traits.