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Table Table 5 Go-to-market & pricing

6. Executive Diagnostic Framework and Integration Audit Checklist

Audit DimensionCore Diagnostic Evaluation QuestionMaturity Scoring Criteria (1 to 5)Red Flag Warning Trigger
1. Strategic Synergy LogicAre underwritten cost and revenue synergies explicitly disaggregated into quantifiable operational owners and timelines?1: Vague financial estimates.
5: Detailed, line-item operational model owned by named VPs.		Target synergies presented as generalized percentages without bottom-up functional validation.
2. IMO Governance ArchitectureDoes an independent Integration Management Office exist with a full-time leader reporting directly to the CEO or Board?1: Part-time ad-hoc committee.
5: Dedicated, full-time IMO with formal charter and veto authority.		Functional department heads attempting to manage integration as a side project on nights and weekends.
3. Clean Team ReadinessWas a sequestered clean team deployed pre-close to map customer data, vendor contracts, and Day-1 operating procedures?1: No pre-close planning.
5: Fully executed clean room data analysis and Day-1 runbook ready.		Arriving at legal closing without finalized Day-1 organizational charts or operational communications.
4. Commercial Territory RulesAre account ownership, quota relief, and cross-sell commission structures formalized and published to sales teams?1: Unresolved commission rules.
5: Unified compensation plan active on Day 1 with clear rules of engagement.		Competing sales reps from acquiring and acquired entities contacting the same enterprise buyer.
5. Customer Retention ProtocolHas an executive sponsor program been deployed to engage the top 20% of acquired customer accounts representing 80% of revenue?1: No proactive outreach.
5: 100% of top accounts contacted personally within 14 days of close.		Spiking customer support ticket queues and unexplained renewal cancellations in the acquired base.
6. Key Person Retention BindingAre critical technical, product, and operational leaders bound by multi-year retention and equity acceleration agreements?1: No retention packages.
5: Multi-year vesting retention packages accepted by 90%+ of key personnel.		Resignation of target founders, chief architects, or lead salespeople within the first 90 days.
7. Systems Migration ArchitectureIs there a staged, risk-mitigated plan for ERP, CRM, and cloud infrastructure migration with rollback protocols?1: Ad-hoc manual spreadsheets.
5: Documented API-driven migration phases with automated data validation.		Duplicate manual journal entries, stalled billing cycles, or uncoordinated cloud hosting spending.
8. Trust and Procedural JusticeAre restructuring decisions, performance reviews, and promotions executed through transparent, objective rubrics?1: Arbitrary executive mandates.
5: Documented procedural justice standards aligned with Stahl et al. (2011).		Widespread rumors, declining employee eNPS, and passive resistance in joint cross-functional workstreams.
9. Knowledge CodificationDoes the organization actively document integration routines, procedural checklists, and post-close retrospectives?1: Purely tacit individual memory.
5: Centralized, evolving integration playbook aligned with Zollo and Singh (2004).		Repeating identical operational mistakes made during previous corporate acquisitions.
10. Board Synergy TrackingDoes the Board of Directors review a monthly synergy audit comparing actual cash flows against underwritten deal models?1: Synergies never re-evaluated.
5: Monthly formal SRR review with executive compensation clawbacks.		Synergy tracking abandoned after Day 100, blending all financials into general corporate overhead.

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Reference & Evidence

Source: Table from this essay. Sources and interpretation are given in the article.

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