Dr. Fritz Kroeger is partner and head of A.T. Kearney’s European strategy practice. He is the author of eight books on restructuring, growth strategy and merger integration, including Winning the Merger Endgame: A Playbook for Profiting from Industry Consolidation(McGraw-Hill, 2002) and Stretch! How Great Companies Grow in Good Times and Bad (John Wiley & Sons, 2004).In 2004, Fritz was chosen by Consulting Magazine for its annual list of the Top 25 Most Influential Consultants.

Dr. Andrej Vizjak is partner and managing director of A.T. Kearney’s Eastern European operations. His consulting work over the past 10 years has focused on M&A growth, consolidation, innovation and helping smaller companies become successful international niche players.

Mike Moriarty is partner and head of A.T. Kearney’s North American consumer industries and retail practice. He has written extensively on global competitiveness, consumer trends and new markets, including Power Play: The Beginning of the Endgame in Net Markets (John Wiley & Sons, 2001). He has more than 30 years of industry and consulting experience in the retail and fast-moving consumer goods industries.

As industries worldwide move toward consolidation, niche companies need to take advantage of strategies that are forward-thinking and anticipate new trends. BEATING THE GLOBAL CONSOLIDATION ENDGAME identifies nine key strategies that niche companies must master in order to outperform their markets and gain the largest benefits from consolidation.

Action steps

To time the strategies accurately, all decision-makers must know what stage of industry consolidation they’re in, along with the implications of each stage. This ensures a company’s survival and success against global consolidators. Taking you through the Merger Endgame Theory life-cycle, the authors show how companies can develop stable strategies and viable niches:

* Determining your industry’s Endgame position and expected evolution of consolidation in coming years

* Identifying industry sectors with comparable models to illuminate strategic success factors for your sector

* Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of Endgame consolidation winners and losers

* Spotting potential market splits and new configurations for the value-creation chain

* Determining the best niche options and the best sequence for executing them

These action steps are supported by case studies of leading companies around the world including BMW, NetJets, Swatch, Ducati, and KPMG – and show how these niche fighters developed competitive advantage, survived market collapses, and delivered superior customer service while increasing their market share.