Setting the Scene
Since the late 1980s there has been a surge in academics focusing on the post-deal phase of acquisitions , and particularly on the human side of post-acquisition integration (Teerikangas and Joseph 2012). This stream of research has argued that merger and acquisition (M&A) failure is often due to the poor management of post-acquisition integration and emerging challenges such as change resistance, a lack of organisational and cultural fit, acculturation stress, low job satisfaction, loss of identity etc. (e.g. Buono and Bowditch 1989; Cartwright and Cooper 1993; Gomes et al. 2013; Kusstatscher and Cooper 2005; Stahl and Voigt 2008; Very et al. 1996). It is evident that an M&A is not just an investment or a transaction. M&As are organisational encounters, where socialisation and interaction are critical to the success of post-acquisition integration (Teerikangas and Joseph 2012). Prior research has emphasised the role of mutual interaction in promoting learning , sharing knowledge and the success of an M&A (e.g. Larsson and Lubatkin 2001; see also Teerikangas and Joseph 2012). From the 1980s onwards, the focus has also been on cultural integration and cultural differences in M&As . This stream of research has focused on the role of culture , national and/or organisational culture , in M&A performance (Teerikangas and Very 2012), as well as on cultural convergence or acculturation (Larsson and Lubatkin 2001; Nahavandi and Malekzadeh 1988; Thanos and Papadakis 2012). This book contributes to these streams of literature by introducing research cases where acquirers have adopted a softer approach based on mutual interaction to foster cultural convergence and identity-building .
This book provides a deeper understanding of how emotions—both positive and negative—as well as values and identity enable a deeper socio-cultural integration after a merger or acquisition , and how middle managers often juggle between their own emotions and change experience while driving integration as change agents . The contribution of this book is twofold. First, it adds to our understanding of socio-cultural integration in cross-border M&As by focusing on how emotions, values and identity evolve and enhance socio-cultural integration, and on middle managers , who drive and experience the change during socio-cultural integration. Second, this book is based on case studies and large qualitative and quantitative data sets. The unique empirical data provides detailed, rich accounts of the less tangible aspects of socio-cultural integration.
Defining Socio-Cultural Integration
Post-acquisition integration refers to the combining of the acquiring and acquired companies following an M&A . This post-acquisition phase has been referred to in a number of ways, for example, the post-acquisition integration phase, the post-merger integration (PMI) phase or the post-M&A phase (see e.g. Teerikangas and Joseph 2012). It can be defined as ‘the multifaceted, dynamic process through which the acquirer and acquired firm on their components are combined to form a new organisation’ (Graebner et al. 2017, p. 2). Post-acquisition integration has been described as multidimensional (c.f. Graebner et al. 2017), comprising of the combination of various activities and assets, material or immaterial, and it can be divided between procedural, physical and managerial integration (Shrivastava 1986) or simply between the task and human resource integration (Birkinshaw et al. 2000). Cultural integration has traditionally been viewed as separate from human resource integration (cf. Angwin 2012), but since the twenty-first century, the term ‘socio-cultural integration’ has combined these two interlinked dimensions (e.g. Stahl and Voigt 2008). In this book, we refer to socio-cultural integration as a specific dimension focusing on the human, social and cultural aspects of the post-acquisition integration process , including issues of identity and values (c.f. Graebner et al. 2017).
Research on the socio-cultural integration in M&As has largely focused on negative emotions and attitudes such as acculturative stress, change resistance, loss of job satisfaction and commitment, and ways to...