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<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=790342216-05062001>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...</SPAN></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff
face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=790342216-05062001> Actually I looked through the
"Tales.." before but didn't see the connection. Perfect match! I will let you
know what happens.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=790342216-05062001>Greetings Thomas</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV align=left class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----<BR><B>Från:</B> OSLIST
[mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]<B>För </B>Harrison
Owen<BR><B>Skickat:</B> den 5 juni 2001 15:46<BR><B>Till:</B>
OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<BR><B>Ämne:</B> Re: OST in a merger
situation<BR><BR></DIV></FONT>At 11:42 PM 6/4/01 +0200, you wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite type="cite" cite>Hi all.<BR>I am having a dialogue
with a (maybe) client. He would like to have som<BR>examples of where OST
has been used in merger situations. The company<BR>concearned has recently
merged with two other companies. So far I only<BR>talked to the manager of
the salesdepartment, about doing OST for the three<BR>salesdepartments. We
did however talk about the whole company (160<BR>employed)as well. The
company is within marketing/sales/e-business/customer<BR>relations and so
on.</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>OS is wonderful in a merger situation. Two stories.
<B>Corporate Express</B> 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 <B>The ACCOR Group</B> -- 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 <A
href="http://www.openspaceworld.com/"
eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.com</A> click on "papers" and scroll
down to "Tales" -- It's the whole book. Enjoy.<BR><BR>Harrison<BR><BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite type="cite" cite>Harrison Owen</BLOCKQUOTE><X-SIGSEP>
<P></X-SIGSEP>
<DIV align=center>7808 River Falls Drive<BR>Potomac, MD 20854 USA<BR>phone
301-469-9269<BR>fax 301-983-9314<BR>Open Space Training <A
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