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Your company is considering a merger or acquisition. You’ve explored the financial and legal ramifications. But do you know what your point of distinction will be post-merger?

Today, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are commonplace. They are strategic decisions grounded in geographic expansion, product and competency diversification,

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

and brand leveraging. While businesses clearly address the associated legal and financial issues, they often overlook a critical component—brand management. Effective brand management goes well beyond the basic marketing tools. It requires an integrated approach to ensure consistency of your corporate message and identity throughout all a

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

pects of your business. Without careful brand management, your M&A effort is vulnerable to failure.

Simply put, brand management helps to secure stability and brand loyalty for your company. You may consider discounting its importance to the M&A process, but be prepared for the possible outcomes:

Brands are managed inco

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

nsistently and brand equity suffers

Management and staff send mixed messages, creating confusion in the marketplace

Company image/brand loses value in the market

Employee morale decreases and turnover increases

Customers lose confidence and leave

Competitors steal your best customers

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

li>Shareholder price plummets

Why is brand management frequently overlooked in the M&A process?

Companies lack the experienced resources to focus on it.
Organizations don’t realize the need to address it until it’s too late.
Business leaders neglect it because they are concentrating on financial

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

nd legal issues.

Hiring an outside brand management strategist can bring dedicated resources and an independent perspective to the process. That’s why successful companies make brand management a cornerstone in their overall M&A strategy. By incorporating brand management in the early discussions around a merger or acquisition

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

, your organization will come out stronger and more focused. Best of all, shareholders, clients, employees and the public will remain loyal to your brand.

Nearly 50% of all mergers fail to sustain or bolster shareholder value. Why? Because they don’t realize that brand is not an event. It’s a process. A brand management stra

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

egy ensures that your business can withstand the challenges associated with M&A, both today and through future market fluctuations. Working with an outside brand management team can help you assess and manage your company’s brand in relationship to specific competitors and the broader industry — a crucial part of any successful M&A effort.

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

Building Your Point of Distinction Your company builds brand with every customer contact, planned or unplanned. And, every interaction (no matter how insignificant) makes a lasting impression. Each impression combines with all those that have gone before to create your brand. Every gesture, every action, every word — every point

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

f contact with your customer enriches or erodes your brand.

Whether you realize it or not, if you are in business, you have a brand and you must manage it continuously.

An effective brand management firm invests as much time in pre-planning as it does during the M&A announcement and post-announcement stages. They help companies by

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

Understanding the business and what the original brands were intended to represent.

Aligning this knowledge with actual market perceptions to develop a strategic brand management plan.

Identifying the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities associated with each company and assessing thei

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

r impact on the “new” entity and existing business.

Recommending brand management strategies that will drive the marketing and communication initiatives for the company.

Researching and evaluating potential acquisition candidates or merger partners by answering questions like:

“How does the pros

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

ect’s brand compare to your company’s brand?”

“What is each brand’s strongest attribute?”

“How is the brand relevant to future customers?”

“Which candidate will best help reach strategic objectives?”

Should one brand dominate or should a new brand be created?”

Determining the

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

most beneficial identity for the new company. Maybe it’s keeping one name and getting rid of the other as Cingular did when it acquired AT&T Wireless. Perhaps it’s combining the names like Exxon and Mobil or creating a new name entirely as Verizon did when Bell Atlantic and GTE merged. All have their pros and cons. Cingular had the stronge

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

brand recognition. For ExxonMobil, both companies boasted loyal customers. Keeping both names enabled them to retain both client bases. Bell Atlantic and GTE agreed to create a new wireless business with a single, national brand. In order to affect the change, the entity became known as Verizon.

Assessing which brands to

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

eep/eliminate and determining the appropriate investment in each. Retaining current brands isn’t always the most effective or cost-efficient approach.

Implementing a PR/marketing strategy to communicate the merger to employees, clients, shareholders and the public. Brand policies and guidelines as well as training and comp

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

liance are critical in helping employees understand and effectively communicate the new brand. Your brand can be one of your most valuable business assets.

Facilitating the process of merging two cultures. How will the cultures merge? What are the core values and competencies of the new entity? Will the mission or philosop

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

y change? How will the companies leverage the best from each to create a strong point of distinction?

Brand management is the best investment merging companies can make. Done properly it can help the new entity:

Increase employee, customer, shareholder and vendor loyalty

Integrate two companies/cult

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

ures/brands effectively

Influence the perceived value of the effort in the market

Manage brands more cost-efficiently

Ensure employee commitment and confidence

Enhance profitability

Your M&A effort requires a significant investment in time and money. At this critical juncture, take into

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

areful consideration one of the most critical aspects of this effort — your brand. Addressing brand management as an integral part of the merger or acquisition process will help ensure your company’s success and competitive edge in the marketplace. And ask yourself, “What will be the point of distinction for my newly merged company?

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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We have finally come to the end of our medical billing series on the GU0 record. In this installment, we cover the last four fields, from 69 to 72.

Returns issues in the Consumer Electronics Industry. Trends, topics, and issues with current data gathering techniques. It is estimated that returns cost the Consumer Electronics industry more than $10 billion annually, and although returns are unavoidable, it is essential that a means to capture the “true” reason for product returns be developed and implemented. Information obtained from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) indicates that over 60% of all returns reflect a reason code of “defective.”

Discover the secrets many businesses employ each and every day when it comes to classified ads. Your business really can benefit from simple classified ads that draw good response and generate high money week in week out.

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