An MBA 699 Module 6 memo with a risk and contingency register for a company sale, triggers and responses for eight risks, walk-away conditions and an employee change management plan for the announcement and the period before closing. Searches like "mba 699 module 6 assignment", "mba699 module 6 risk and contingency plan memo" and "mba 699 module 6 example" land here.
The MBA 699 Module 6 example, in full
Memorandum
To: Guiding Coalition, Prairieview Life Sciences (composite)
From: [Student Name], Business Development Manager
Date: [Date]
Re: Risk and contingency plan for the sale process and the employee change plan
Summary
The road map takes Prairieview from preparation to closing in 44 weeks. Three risks could end the process or sharply reduce its value: a leak that triggers departures before a buyer is chosen, a quality finding during due diligence, and clients refusing to consent to a change of control. Each has a prepared response below. The larger point is that most of our risks are people risks. A buyer can walk away from a bad quarter; it will walk away faster from a plant it no longer trusts to run. The second half of this memo is therefore a change plan for employees.
Risk and Contingency Register
Following the ISO 31000 guidance on identifying, analyzing and treating risk (International Organization for Standardization [ISO], 2018), Table 1 lists each risk with its trigger, contingency response and owner.
Table 1
Sale Process Risk and Contingency Register
| Risk | Trigger | Contingency response | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leak before signing | Rumors in plants; press or client inquiry | Prepared statement that the board reviews options regularly; managers briefed to escalate questions | CEO |
| Critical employee resigns | Resignation or known job search among the 50 critical staff | Retention agreements already signed; counteroffer authority for VP of HR; successor named for each role | VP of HR |
| Manufacturing attrition rises | Monthly attrition above 2% in manufacturing | Accelerate float pool hiring; freeze nonessential overtime; site leader town halls | COO |
| Quality finding in due diligence | Buyer flags data integrity or deviation trends | Pre-diligence mock audit by outside firm; remediation plan ready to share | VP of quality |
| Client refuses change-of-control consent | Client raises concerns after notice | Early consent conversations with top 7 commercial clients; buyer commitments on supply continuity | General counsel |
| Bids below the board's floor | Indications under the floor from all parties | Pause and return in 12 months with improved attrition trend; consider private equity route | CFO |
| Regulatory delay | Second request from antitrust agencies | Extend outside date in agreement; hold integration planning | General counsel |
| Preferred buyer withdraws | Buyer stops diligence or reprices sharply | Keep backup bidder active through final bids | Investment bank and BD manager |
Note. Composite register prepared for the guiding coalition.
Walk-Away Conditions
The coalition should agree now, before negotiations build momentum, on conditions under which it would recommend that the board stop the process. I propose three: no bid at or above the board's valuation floor; any buyer unwilling to commit to retaining the manufacturing workforce for at least 18 months after closing; and loss of consent from two or more of the seven commercial clients. Deciding these in advance protects the coalition from accepting terms simply because so much effort has already been spent.
The Employee Change Plan
Employees will learn of the sale at signing, in phase six of the road map. The weeks that follow are when uncertainty peaks and when the attrition analysis tells us we are most exposed, since 162 of last year's 240 departures came from staff still inside their first three years, the group least attached to the company.
Schweiger and DeNisi (1991) tested this situation directly. In a field experiment at two plants of a company that had announced a merger, one plant received a realistic merger preview: frequent, honest information about how the merger would affect employees, including through a newsletter, a telephone hotline and meetings with managers. Employees at that plant reported less uncertainty and saw the company as more trustworthy and caring, while the decline in satisfaction and commitment seen at the comparison plant did not occur. The lesson is that honest detail, including uncomfortable detail, works better than reassurance.
What We Will Do
On the day of signing, every employee will hear the news from their own supervisor in a shift meeting before any public announcement, followed by a message from the chief executive and, ideally, the buyer's chief executive. Supervisors will receive a briefing the evening before, with answers to the questions employees are most likely to ask: whether jobs, pay, benefits and shifts will change, and when they will know.
For the period between signing and closing, we will publish a weekly update, even when there is little to report, and run a question line answered within two working days. Plant leaders will hold monthly open meetings on every shift. The critical 50 will already be covered by retention agreements, and the steps taken to steady the plants, published schedules, overtime caps and the float pool, will continue unchanged, since changing working conditions during the transition would add to uncertainty.
We will measure the plan by weekly resignations, question line volume and themes, and a short pulse survey each month on how informed and secure employees feel. If resignations in any function exceed twice the prior year's weekly average for three consecutive weeks, the coalition will meet within 48 hours to respond.
Connecting Risk to the Final Plan
The register and change plan will become part of the exit strategy recommendation to the board. Kotter (1995) warned that change efforts fail when leaders declare victory too soon; in a sale, the equivalent mistake is treating signing as the finish. Closing, and the first months under a new owner, decide whether the value we negotiated survives, and the coalition should remain in place through that period.
References
International Organization for Standardization. (2018). Risk management: Guidelines (ISO Standard No. 31000:2018). ISO.
Kotter, J. P. (1995). Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, 73(2), 59-67.
Schweiger, D. M., & DeNisi, A. S. (1991). Communication with employees following a merger: A longitudinal field experiment. Academy of Management Journal, 34(1), 110-135. https://doi.org/10.2307/256304
How this MBA 699 Module 6 example is structured
The memo leads with the three risks that could end the process, then gives the full register as one table with triggers and owners. It sets walk-away conditions so the coalition decides them before negotiations build momentum. The second half addresses employees directly, because the attrition analysis showed they are the risk most likely to reduce value.
Get MBA 699 Module 6 written to your instructions
Send your MBA 699 Module 6 instructions and rubric, together with your road map. A risk and contingency memo for your transaction comes back within 24 to 48 hours; the first is free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Southern New Hampshire University document.
MBA 699 Module 6 questions, answered
What does MBA 699 Module 6 usually cover?
Later capstone modules commonly ask students to identify risks to the planned transaction, prepare contingency plans and describe how the change will be managed for employees and other stakeholders, completing the pieces needed for the final exit strategy.
What is a trigger in a contingency plan?
A trigger is an observable signal that a risk is starting to occur, such as a rise in resignations or a client asking about ownership. Defining triggers in advance tells the team when to put a prepared response into action.
What is a realistic merger preview?
It is a communication program that gives employees honest, specific and timely information about how a merger or sale will affect them, including bad news. Research found it reduced uncertainty and the decline in attitudes that usually follows an announcement.