siliconindia | | April 20199providing critical & independent san-ity check-in validating the needs of entire organization. CFO needs to lead from the front and establish a strong case ­ or absence of it ­ for inorganic growth, both to external, as well as internal stakeholders. As a wise man quoted `Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell'!Characterization & responsibility of CFO is akin to a CEO in an inor-ganic growth proposal. CFO enacts multiple roles from a traditional finan-cial expert to a deal maker, synergy manager and integrator, thus becom-ing a critical enabler of corporate growth. He is considered as thought leader on M&A success. Every deal is considered to be different. CFO with support of CEO, decides of what kind of deals company should pursue. He assesses and evaluates risk involved in every deal. He becomes a very impor-tant key while making every deal, as he has to maintain the strategic intent, anticipate opportunities, never over-pay, encash synergies and most impor-tantly, not to compromise on control. CFO as merger strategist articulates the vision for company with a deal and can help turn company's various stakeholders into believers. The tougher most challenge for a CFO actually lies in ensuring that deal is evaluated by all internal stakehold-ers keeping aside emotions! Acumen should always prevail over aesthet-ics and business sense should be the driving factor for each decision. In today's business world where featur-ing on business dailies and maga-zines is (mis) perceived as one of the yardsticks for success, there is a general misconception that a `dynam-ic' organization has to travel down the inorganic route at some point of time during their growth journey and it can never be substituted by organic growth. As Donald Trump once said `Your best investments are sometimes the one that you don't make'. M&As aren't indeed sure shot formulae for growth always. The examples of failed M&A are by hundreds in India alone and in majority of the cases, it is be-cause of the impatience on part of the management to flourish quickly, push-ing them to stitch a wrong deal either in terms of value, structure or fitment. There are companies that have grown exponentially through organic route predominantly in spite of having huge cash piles at its disposal ­ Apple tops the chart in this category. At the same time, the conven-tional sagacity of M&A deals are ripe strategy to destroy value which is also far from truth in context of to-day's evolved business world, where corporates have matured in the art of buying, selling and integrating busi-nesses. In fact, the Digital age CFOs, along with progressive Startup CEOs have constructed various new forms of inorganic growth routes ­ Joint Ventures, Strategic stake through Mi-nority Investments, Commercial Alli-ances and partnerships with an option to invest/acquire, Reverse Mergers, Incubator support and the latest of the lot `Acqui-hiring'. Remember the Golden Rule here for Startups/Mid-sized Companies ­ M&As are about acquiring capabilities and not necessarily assets. Since capabilities reside within people, any form of col-laboration, which can harness the ca-pabilities well should always be the preferred mode. We have seen some great examples of all of the above forms in U.S., Chinese, as well as Indian Tech Industry with players like Amazon, Google, Alibaba, Tencent, Flipkart and Ola.For a CFO, M&A is much more than numbers even post completion of the deal. Adhering to the promises made during the deal and maintaining the synergy, every CFO creates a post-integration plan with monitoring sys-tems to avoid things going awry. His role as an integrator doesn't restrict to only finance of two companies, but also involves integrating departments outside Finance. They ensure moni-toring performances of crucial depart-ments, post integration.Driving a business is like fight-ing multiple battles at multiple war grounds. At the end of the day, CFO has to pick-up his own battles. Be a strategist and fight many at once. Rec-ognizing `Worth' of an investment over cost of it, is what sets apart men from boys. Driving a business is like fighting multiple battles at multiple war grounds. At the end of the day, CFO has to pick-up his own battles. Be a strategist and fight many at onceMitesh Shah
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