SV: OST in a merger situation

[Thomas Herrmann]

Thanks a lot for sharing the stories, Harisson and Annette. They will be of
great value for me and my client as we move towards opening up space in this
company. I am sure it would suit so good in the situation they are. They
merged mainly to be able to offer a wider range of services to their
customers. That means they have to get to know each other personally and
also see the connections between the services provided by the
(formerly)different companies. Then there is the clash of corporate cultures
and so on... Actually I looked through the "Tales.." before but didn't see
the connection. Perfect match! I will let you know what happens.
Greetings Thomas
  -----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
  Från: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]För Harrison Owen
  Skickat: den 5 juni 2001 15:46
  Till: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
  Ämne: Re: OST in a merger situation


  At 11:42 PM 6/4/01 +0200, you wrote:

    Hi all.
    I am having a dialogue with a (maybe) client. He would like to have som
    examples of where OST has been used in merger situations. The company
    concearned has recently merged with two other companies. So far I only
    talked to the manager of the salesdepartment, about doing OST for the
three
    salesdepartments. We did however talk about the whole company (160
    employed)as well. The company is within
marketing/sales/e-business/customer
    relations and so on.

  OS is wonderful in a merger situation. Two stories. Corporate Express is
an American company in the office supply business. When I first met them (in
September several years ago) they were doing $100,000,000.  By October it
was $300 million, by November it was $600, and by the first of the year, $1
Billion (actually a little less  -- but when you get that close you can
exaggerate a little.)  All this was done by merger/acquisition and each time
they added a major piece, we did another Open Space with all the more or
less senior folks involved. In a couple days, they managed to deal with a
lot of nitty-gritty stuff like product rationalization, compensation,
regional advertising, etc. But most of all they established the "people"
network so they could really work together more quickly. Second Story The
ACCOR Group -- French  hotel company which started out as Novitel,
Sofitel -- but they grew to include Pullman, Motel 6, Wagon-lit and more.
The issue was maintaining brand identity while building corporate identity
in a multi-cultural, multi-national environment. And Open Space was a
significant part of the answer. Christopher Schoch was my partner in crime,
and he tells the tale in some detail in "Tales from Open Space." a copy of
which you may obtain for free by visiting www.openspaceworld.com  click on
"papers" and scroll down to "Tales" -- It's the whole book. Enjoy.

  Harrison



    Harrison Owen

  7808 River Falls Drive
  Potomac, MD 20854 USA
  phone 301-469-9269
  fax 301-983-9314
  Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
  Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
  Personal website www.mindspring.com/~owenhh

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