????你得讓我知道

????我該留該走？

????-- “The Clash”樂隊(duì)

????要把你引向一個(gè)重大的問題??????

????唉，不要問，"那是什么？"

????讓我們快點(diǎn)去看一下。

????- T.S. 艾略特, 《J.阿爾弗雷德?普羅弗洛克的情歌》

????這是探討戰(zhàn)略性業(yè)務(wù)開發(fā)重要性的系列文章之一（前三部分參見 I, II and III）。

????So you got to let me know

????Should I stay or should I go?

????-- The Clash

????To lead you to an overwhelming question…

????Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"

????Let us go and make our visit.

????- T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

????This is a series of posts dealing with the importance of strategic business development (Here are Parts I, II and III).

????2007年7月23日，惠普宣布以16億美元現(xiàn)金收購(gòu)Opsware。不管怎么看，這對(duì)Opsware股東來說都是一筆好交易。每股14.25美元的收購(gòu)價(jià)，相對(duì)過去六個(gè)月的平均股價(jià)，溢價(jià)高達(dá)74%，而對(duì)于在2002年10月Opsware的歷史低點(diǎn)押注于公司的人士，回報(bào)則是令人咋舌的40倍，要知道當(dāng)時(shí)我們力挽投資者關(guān)系才避免了被納斯達(dá)克摘牌的厄運(yùn)。僅僅五年之后，Opsware16倍歷史營(yíng)收的收購(gòu)乘數(shù)就在10億美元以上的企業(yè)軟件收購(gòu)記錄中笑傲群雄。

????數(shù)以百計(jì)的員工的勤奮工作幫助我們?nèi)〉昧孙w速發(fā)展，成長(zhǎng)為引人注目的市場(chǎng)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者，而企業(yè)軟件也終于成為軟件業(yè)的重要類別。但我們所獲得的驚人收購(gòu)溢價(jià)也來自于實(shí)施多年的戰(zhàn)略性業(yè)務(wù)開發(fā)努力，其目的就是實(shí)現(xiàn)從好公司到卓越公司的蛻變。如果你也在打造你的公司，請(qǐng)參考我們的業(yè)務(wù)發(fā)展五原則：

????1.一定要知曉你的出路：要花時(shí)間去和潛在的收購(gòu)者建立聯(lián)系。你無法預(yù)知什么時(shí)候?qū)⑿枰麄兊膸椭?/p>

????2.停止?fàn)幊?，偶爾思考?/strong>每過12-18個(gè)月，和董事會(huì)一起審視公司的戰(zhàn)略位置，從定量和定性的角度嚴(yán)密地考察其它備選方案。

????On July 23, 2007, HP announcedit was buying Opsware for $1.6 billion in cash. By any measure, it was a very attractive deal for Opsware shareholders. The acquisition price of $14.25 a share represented a 74% premium over the prior six-month average, and a forty-fold return for anyone who had bet on us at our low point in October 2002, when only an intensive investor relations effort had saved us from NASDAQ delisting. Almost five years later, the acquisition multiple of almost 16 times trailing revenue still far exceeds that of any other billion dollar-plus enterprise software acquisition—ever.

????The hard work of hundreds of employees contributed to making us the clear high-growth market leader in what was finally an important enterprise software category, but the significant premium we achieved was also the result of a multi-year, strategic business development effort designed to turn a merely good outcome into a truly exceptional one. That business development effort was built around five key principles that you, too, should consider as you build your company:

????1. Always know where the exits are: Take the time to build relationships with potential acquirers. You never know when you may need them.

????2. Step back from the fray occasionally: Review the company's strategic situation with the board every 12-18 months and evaluate the alternatives with quantitative and qualitative rigor.