Challenges and Risks in the Due Diligence Process Answered with an Innovative Approach

In existing academic studies on the Due Diligence process, the different areas have been considered separately. This is time-consuming and causes inefficiencies. The proposed approach to Due Diligence integrates these separate areas into one process. While every company’s success can be defined by a few key factors, these differ by industry. The goal of this analysis is to develop a basis for decision-making regarding Mergers and Acquisitions for small- and medium-sized manufacturing companies. It also has a positive impact on the success rate of mergers and acquisition transactions by generating a scorecard model that enables the potential acquirer to perform an overall analysis of the existing data as well as to generate an informed outlook for the future using a standardized and efficient approach. The model is based on different research methods. First of all, a literature research was conducted to define the theoretical framework. There are two main areas, the Strategic Controlling on the one hand, and M&A, on the other hand. The theoretical findings are specified through expert interviews. The expert interviews are semi-standardized. There is a quantitative and a qualitative part. Based on the analysis, a concept for a leaner DD approach has been developed. The article presents a summary of the research. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2021-02-01-06 Full Text: PD