This book deals in general with mergers & acquisitions in the CRO industry, and more specifically with reasons for M&A, success factors during the M&A process, and why M&A can fail in the Contract Research Organization industry. The pharmaceutical industry faces increasing obstacles in respect to the development and introduction of new medications. That has to do with stricter requirements for admission and sharper controls by authorities. Today, the research and development of a new drug can easily consume more than $800 million and lasting between 10 and 15 years. Due to these facts pharmaceutical companies are looking for an alternative in the drug development process. A popular alternative is the outsourcing or in-house working with Contract Research Organizations (CRO). CRO are specialized in coordination and monitoring of drug development activities. The size of the CRO market in 2012 was around $32 billion and had an estimated market growth of around 9 - 12% for 2013. Increased outsourcing and allocation of R&D money towards CRO reflects a driving force for prospective growth. Contract Research Organizations consider mergers & acquisitions as a vital solution to achieve their objectives.