Which business development move will destroy shareholder value? • Intel acquiring a wireless computing chip company (Infineon) and a security-software maker (McAfee)? • Proctor and Gamble creating two new businesses – Tide™ Dry Cleaners and Mr. Clean™ Car Washes, adopting a franchise business model? • Starting in 2011, BestBuy offering a Best Buy branded mobile broadband service as a reseller of Clearwire’s 4G network? All three examples deal with synergies. Strong business models are jam packed with synergies and smart leaders focus growth strategies on synergistic moves. If you don’t understand the concept of synergies, here’s a simple explanation. Synergies arise when the whole of a business is worth more than the sum of the value of its parts standing independently. McDonalds grew profitably into a global giant because its different locations are highly synergistic. Expenses are leveraged across locations (marketing, construction, food-prep,…