Consolidation--The Juggernaut Hits the Wall

Mail-Well's Thompson sees these instances as cautionary lessons.

"We all need to be more aware of the challenges we face when we acquire an entrepreneurially managed company and ask these same people to function just as effectively in a much larger organization," he observes. "The effective and value-realizing integration of the acquisitions we make is, in my opinion, one of the biggest management challenges we face."