Corporate Development Primer

Corporate Development Primer is a practical, end-to-end guide for executives, corporate development professionals, and strategy teams responsible for driving inorganic growth and portfolio evolution. It clearly defines the corporate development mandate and explains how corp dev creates value—by translating corporate strategy into disciplined M&A, investments, partnerships, and divestitures—while also highlighting the common ways it destroys value when governance, fit, or execution break down. The Primer walks readers through the full corporate development lifecycle, from strategy alignment and target screening to deal execution, integration, separation, and ongoing portfolio management.

Designed for real-world application, the book provides concrete frameworks for organizing the corporate development function, managing deal pipelines, evaluating strategic fit and economics, running diligence, structuring and negotiating transactions, and governing minority investments, joint ventures, and partnerships. It also covers post-deal value creation, integration support, carve-outs, and stakeholder communication—areas where many deals succeed or fail long after closing. With practical tools, process guidance, and insights into the evolving role of data, analytics, and advisors, the Primer equips readers to build a disciplined, credible, and future-ready corporate development capability that consistently supports enterprise value creation.