With acquisition activity running into the trillions of dollars, the acquisition alternative continues to be the favorite corporate growth strategy of this generation's executives. Unfortunately, creating shareholder value remains the most elusive outcome of these corporate strategies. After decades of research and billions of dollars paid in advisory fees, why do these major decisions continue to destroy value? Building on his groundbreaking research first cited in Business Week, Mark L. Sirower explains how companies often pay too much -- and predictably never realize the promises of increased performance and competitiveness -- in their quest to acquire other companies. Armed with extensive evidence, Sirower destroys the popular notion that the acquisition premium represents potential value. He provides the first formal and functional definition for synergy -- the specific increases in performance beyond those already expected for companies to achieve independently. Sirower's refreshing nuts-and-bolts analysis of the fundamentals behind acquisition performance cuts sharply through the existing folklore surrounding failed acquisitions, such as lack of "strategic fit" or corporate culture problems, and gives managers the tools to avoid predictable losses in acquisition decisions. Using several detailed examples of recent major acquisitions and through his masterful integration and extension of techniques from finance and business strategy, Sirower reveals: The unique business gamble that acquisitions represent The managerial challenges already embedded in current stock prices The competitive conditions that must be met and the organizational cornerstones that must be in place for any possibility of synergy The precise Required Performance Improvements (RPIs) implicitly embedded in acquisition premiums and the reasons why these RPIs normally dwarf realistic performance gains The seductiveness and danger of sophisticated valuation models so often used by advisers The Synergy Trap is the first exposé of its kind to prove that the tendency of managers to succumb to the "up the ante" philosophy in acquisitions often leads to disastrous ends for their shareholders. Sirower shows that companies must meticulously plan -- and account for huge uncertainties -- before deciding to enter the acquisition game. To date, Sirower's work is the most comprehensive and rigorous, yet practical, analysis of the drivers of acquisition performance. This definitive book will become required reading for managers, corporate directors, consultants, investors, bankers, and academics involved in the mergers and acquisitions arena.

馬剋・L・賽羅沃（Mark L.Sirower）博士是波士頓顧問公司企業戰略專項顧問和紐約大學斯特恩商學院的客座教授。他經常在全球各地就如何通過並購創造價值這一主題發錶演講，並積極為大公司的並購決策齣謀劃策。

賽羅沃關於購並的研究在包括《商業周刊》、《財富》、《華爾街日報》、《紐約時報》、《哈佛商業評論》、《經濟學傢》、《金融時報》、《CFO》、《巴倫氏》等主要商業報刊上都發錶過。他曾在像“財富500強CEO和CFO論壇”等重要商業場閤發錶重要演講，也在國內電視和廣播中頻頻齣現。他在哥倫比亞大學商學研究生院獲得博士學位，《協同效應的陷阱》即根據他在該校的一篇具有開創性的博士論文寫成。他在沃頓商學院、哥倫比亞大學、紐約大學都擁有教席。