LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill., January 24, 2013 – Aon Hewitt, the global human resource solutions business of Aon plc (NYSE: AON), today announced it is collaborating with Universal Consensus LLC, a leading cross-cultural management consultant and training firm, to enhance Aon Hewitt’s cross-cultural advisory, integration and business optimization services for its global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) clients.

Headquartered in San Diego, Universal Consensus offers cross-cultural assessments, advisory services, and training to hundreds of large organizations around the world. Its proprietary framework, the BMIA™ (Business Model of Intercultural Analysis), evaluates companies’ challenges and growth opportunities of doing business across cultures, both internationally and domestically. Armed with this data, Universal Consensus experts develop customized solutions including assessments, strategic advising, training, executive coaching and other programs to help companies improve how they integrate across cultures during a merger, acquisition or joint venture.

“Culture is one of the big obstacles hindering deal success and is a driving force behind many other immediate causes of deal failure, including delayed integration or implementation. Some of the largest companies in the world pull out or scale back in foreign target markets simply because they failed to understand the impact of national cultures on the very factors they relied upon to drive profitability,” said David Sult, senior vice president of Merger and Acquisitions Solutions at Aon Hewitt. “Our partnership with Universal Consensus complements our existing cultural capabilities, expands our global footprint and brings us additional levels of insight, capabilities and tools to help companies understand and manage the cross-cultural issues that impact the success of their M&A transactions.”

“More and more companies realize the importance of evaluating and controlling the impact of national cultures coming together during the M&A process,” said Denise Pirrotti Hummel, CEO of Universal Consensus. “Failing to appropriately identify, analyze and manage cultural differences can create significant problems for organization and can often lead to the success or failure of a transaction. Our partnership with Aon Hewitt enables us to combine our talent and expertise to help companies find the most effective way to bring together diverse national workforces and cultures.”

Aon’s M&A Solutions (AMAS) practice provides comprehensive services through the entire M&A lifecycle including due diligence, integration planning and implementation. For the past four years, AMAS has provided world-class thought leadership and experience on more than 3,700 diligence assignments. The practice’s expert team is comprised of over 300 dedicated M&A professionals worldwide, including management consultants, attorneys, actuaries, human capital specialists, brokers, underwriters, claims adjusters and investment bankers.  

# # #

Sign up for News Alerts:  http://aon.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=58
Follow Aon Hewitt on Twitter @AonHewitt

About Aon Hewitt

Aon Hewitt is the global leader in human resource solutions.  The company partners with organizations to solve their most complex benefits, talent and related financial challenges, and improve business performance.  Aon Hewitt designs, implements, communicates and administers a wide range of human capital, retirement, investment management, health care, compensation and talent management strategies.  With more than 29,000 professionals in 90 countries, Aon Hewitt makes the world a better place to work for clients and their employees.  For more information on Aon Hewitt, please visit www.aonhewitt.com.

About Aon

Aon plc (NYSE: AON) is the leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing services. Through its more than 61,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to empower results for clients in over 120 countries via innovative and effective risk and people solutions and through industry-leading global resources and technical expertise. Aon has been named repeatedly as the world's best broker, best insurance intermediary, reinsurance intermediary, captives manager and best employee benefits consulting firm by multiple industry sources. Visit www.aon.com for more information on Aon and www.aon.com/manchesterunited to learn about Aon's global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.

About Universal Consensus

Universal Consensus is a global cross cultural advisory, management consulting, and training firm. Corporations are enabled to leverage the power of culture to increase agility, improve profitability, and optimize operations in their business ecosystems, across borders, and around the world. Universal Consensus clients include FedEx Corp., Whirlpool Corp., Qualcomm Inc., Roche Holding AG, the Pentagon, and the U.S. State Department. For more information on Universal Consensus, visit www.universalconsensus.com.  

Media Contacts:  

Maurissa Kanter

Aon Hewitt

+1 847-442-0952

maurissa.kanter@aonhewitt.com

Meghann Boyd

Universal Consensus

+1 (760) 390-0185

Meghann@universalconsensus.com