Book excerpt: Mergers and acquisitions are part of the fabric of business and economic life: they help drive growth in companies of all sizes. Most executives will at some point in their careers experience a takeover, as buyer, seller or intermediary. Yet, despite M&A's obvious attractions, deals often fall short of expectations and, in extreme cases, can go disastrously wrong, with devastating consequences. From their unique perspective as practitioners and researchers, Faelten, Driessen and Moeller have seen it all when it comes to M&A, and they've used this experience to develop their Three Big Mistakes of Deal-Making. Using case studies from a wide range of companies, many household names (Diageo, BMW, Microsoft, Kraft, HP and even Manchester United), and for deals ranging from the highly to the less successful to the downright questionable, Why Deals Fail offers both a commentary on the inexorable tendency for companies to merge, for good or ill, and a guide to the benefits and pitfalls of M&A as a growth strategy. The result is a fascinating insight into why some deals work and why others go awry for anyone interested in how the corporate world works, or contemplating or facing a merger or acquisition themselves.