Bigger councils are stronger

The challenges of effectively managing large organisations that span formerly different cultural, functional, demographic, or economic realms frequently defeat even the very best management teams. The Coles–Meyer fiasco mirrors that of the Daimler–Chrysler merger, Viacom–CBS, Hewlett-Packard–Compaq, Glaxo–SmithKline, and many, many others. A number of the councils merged in Victoria in the 1990’s fared similarly and had to be de-amalgamated.

The best estimates are that three-quarters or more of mergers fail. If those multi-nationals’ management teams can’t get it right, what chance do merged councils have? Let’s learn from the mistakes of others rather than repeating them.