Doug Baker, CEO of Ecolab since 2004, turned his chair away from the desk and looked out over the St. Paul, Minnesota skyline. In his 10 years at the helm of the Minnesota cleaning and sanitation firm, he had transitioned the company from a premier provider of cleaning, sanitation, and hygiene supplies to a leader in environmental sustainability. No action he took had been more significant than Ecolab's 2011 acquisition of Nalco, the nation's leading industrial water treatment and management firm. Yet as he reflected, he pondered two questions. First, with a little more than three years since the deal closed, how successful had the acquisition really been, and second, what key learnings did he want his team to remember as they considered future acquisitions? This case will explore Ecolab's transformation and trajectory given its corporate strategy success. As you read the case below, consider how you'd answer the following questions: 1. How did the shared values of Ecolab and Nalco provide the foundation for a merger? 2. Was the acquisition financially successful? What evidence supports your assessment? 3. What did Ecolab learn from the integration of Nalco that will be useful to them moving forward