THE CS ROBINSON-FORD MERGER

M&A Group Assignment

Group A12
Isha Varma – 16F323
Chandni M – 16F312
Ashna Kedia – 16F311
Gandhali Inamdar – 16F317
Q1. What was the business logic of CS Robinson-Ford Merger?
 The case emphasises the importance of integration and communication of information
during a merger of two companies.
 The business logic of the case is to show how cross-border mergers/acquisitions are
difficult to execute due to the cultural differences and the different labour laws
existing in the two countries
 The case shows how anxious the employees of the companies are when there is a
merger affecting their salary, title etc.
 The case also emphasises that the merged entity needs to have a vision and mission
which is acceptable to the employees of both companies

Q2. Critique the transition team composition.

 The transition team- Mark (CEO), Haupt( Senior at PCS), Kastner(coverage officer at
PCS),Eric (Legal dept),Outside Consultant(California labor law),Franklin (VP tech
team)
 The transition team consisted of 2 HR officials from the PCS team and both of them
belonged to the coverage group, which dealt with handling employee relations issues.
As title and salary mapping were some of the major issues faced post-merger, it
would have been beneficial if they included a HR professional from the product
groups division also.
 Including a senior HR official from Ford would have also helped in reducing anxiety
& made the employees feel more included in the M&A process
 Including an outside legal consultant on California labor law was a good move, but
they could have included a senior legal official from Ford to sort out the issues
amicably
 There should have been a representative from the security division as well especially
when there is so much confusion regarding the fingerprinting & drug testing
procedures.
Q3. What were the issues that were to be resolved by the transition team?
 Policy changes & compliance issues-
o CS Robinson requirement of employee investments monitoring policy
requiring full disclosure and redirecting accounts was not acceptable by Ford
employees
o Differences in labour laws between two states(California & New York) over
employee rights
o Vacation Policy- Accruals vs Use-It-Lose-It, sabbaticals
o Long-distance personal calls payment policy- employee pays vs company pays
vs no policy at all, validity of code of conduct pre & post-merger
o Employee Hiring policy- legal requirements
 New company creation
o Vision & Mission
o Identifying overlap between departments of two companies and
eliminating/redeploying areas
 o Compensation structure- reassignment of titles & salaries majorly affecting
other employee benefit policies
o Managing the exit process of those who did not wish to continue post-merger
or were not required further; managing the chaos caused by any unexpected
defection
o Information Sharing- How much info to be shared and with whom especially
during merger considering divided loyalties and leadership changes
o Re-defining and communicating the roles and responsibilities of HR
department
 Leadership Changes
o Defining new roles & responsibilities
o Establishing credibility and trust
o Communication
o Reporting Hierarchy changes