The decision to acquire a business, however well grounded in clear market thinking, must be followed by careful planning, and rigorous, independent evaluation. Existing business plans, published accounts, and internal perceptions within the organisation all have an important role to play in the due diligence process. But this alone, is not enough to minimise the potential risks of acquiring or merging a business.

A business may appear to enjoy a large customer base, strong products and an excellent reputation in the market, but unless these assumptions have been independently tested, there is little guarantee that these apparent business strengths really exist.

Carefully targeted market research programmes are cost-effective and play a decisive part in the due diligence process. Benchmark can design a bespoke programme to support specific information objectives to support due diligence, or to validate broader market information objectives. Typical merger and activity research in support of due diligence fall into three broad groups:

Customer Research

Customer research, for example, can validate existing customer databases and measure customer satisfaction and loyalty, each of which has a significant bearing on the current and future value of the business.

New Product and New Business Start up Research

Corporate Image and Brand Equity Research

Email us for more information, or to discuss your needs in more detail.