In my experience, the biggest factors which drives a company toward either a relentless focus on their core business or a penchant for adding new businesses is the background, personal experiences and attitudes of the CEO or founders. It really depends upon what these folks are used to and comfortable with. A CEO who came […]
Software Company Diversification
One of the difficult strategic decisions that software industry management teams have to make is finding the delicate balance between “focusing on the core business” and “not putting all of your eggs in one basket”. One obvious way of differentiating how much diversification is appropriate for a specific company is by company size and maturity. […]
Why is Intel Buying McAfee?
Intel’s $7.68B announced acquisition of McAfee raised more that a few eyebrows, both in the marketplace and on Wall Street. Does it make sense? It’s hard to say at this point. So much depends upon execution, as well as potential synergies seen by Intel’s management which may not be obvious to outsiders. The price is […]
Strategic Acquisitions for Software and Technology Companies
Acquiring new products or whole companies is a popular activity for many growth and market-share oriented companies. Financial or strategic acquisitions – are they good ideas? As I say probably all too often–it depends. I get involved in company or product acquisitions frequently in my consulting practice and have made and integrated acquisitions myself from […]
