This report highlights the complexity of engaging in a post-acquisition integration process of a relatively large knowledge-intensive firm. Findings from a case study is analyzed in relation to previous theory, resulting in four propositions aiming at creating a foundation for further theory development, as well as increased understanding among practitioners in relation to the emphasized problem. It is argued by the authors that increased relative acquisition size of knowledge-intensive firms will: 1) increase demand for a centralized organizational structure, 2) decrease benefits of introducing a new top management, 3) decrease communicative attention towards lower levels, and 4) decrease attention towards subcultures. These factors will ultimately increase the risk for integration failure.

The importance of the post acquisition integration in order to realize the anticipated value from an acquisition has been researched from various angles. Scholars have identified several distinct integration strategies that acquiring firms implement, that differs to what extent the acquired firm is integrated. This paper examines why firms choose a specific integration strategy, and how the strategy is implemented. A multiple case study was conducted with three Swedish companies in different industries, all with technology as a common denominator. Through an inductive approach, the empirical data was coded and analyzed. With the help of existing literature, the analysis showed that the dimension risk aversion can be added to the existing body of literature to explain the choice of integration strategy. The analysis also indicated that an absorbent integration strategy comes with more human resource challenges, however the benefit is a potentially higher value creation.

The increasing global challenges, such as natural disasters, poverty and many others, pose new threats to societies and businesses. Therefore, companies increase their engagement in Corporate Sustainability (CS), which connects social, environmental and economic responsibilities. Through this approach, CS aims at overcoming environmental and social constraints in a business context to increase competitiveness in today’s fast-changing world. This fast pace, with which the business environment changes, is related to external influences, such as the above-mentioned climate change, and to fundamental structural developments. One of those is the increasing number of emerging-market companies (EMNCs) that internationalize rapidly through cross-border M&A deals, also into developed markets. Since both trends, the increase in CS engagement and the growing international M&A activity of EMNCs, gain in practical and academic importance, we conducted our study under the following research question. How is CS integrated on a strategic level after a cross-border acquisition by an EMNC? The theoretical angle from which we approached the topic aligns with the resource-based view, including the natural-resource-based view, and a stakeholder perspective. When reviewing the literature regarding CS, it became clear that substantial outcomes are still lacking despite an increasing commitment to CS. This difficulty can be linked to the variety of interpretations regarding the conception of CS and the resulting confusion among implicated parties. The review of M&A literature, with a special focus on EMNCs, revealed that these companies deploy a unique approach, which is characterized by the soft post-M&A integration of the target to allow organizational learning within both businesses. Therefore, our empirical research aimed at exploring how the strategic CS of both companies, the target and the parent, influence each other and thus, develop towards a common CS strategy. The longitudinal single case study we selected, allowed us to investigate this research proposal. Through the collection and analysis of documentary data enriched by semi-structured interviews, our study revealed the following. The exchange of knowledge and CS-related communication represented the basis for the integration of strategic CS as it nurtures organizational learning. Consequently, the CS strategies of both companies increased in maturity, which means that their sophistication evolved. In addition, we also found that the target developed towards a more permissive sustainability to align with its parent company’s CS strategy. Our main study contributions relate to an enhancement of the theoretical knowledge in the related fields. Besides this, we also identified critical practical issues, such as the importance of establishing a common conception of CS to ensure a successful CS integration on a strategic level.

Background: In the context of rapid market development and globalization, the role of corporate governance has become crucial in determining firm’s direction, control and performance. No substantial investigation has been made to explain the role of corporate governance in the context of widely used strategy for organizational growth – mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Acquisitions of distressed firms represent a particular area within the field of M&A. Distressed firms are characterized by existence-threatening decline in financial performance, and therefore, require  special attention from corporate governance actors in turning the company around from bankruptcy and resuming its normal operations. Despite the fact that a substantial body of literature has been developed on turnaround theory during the last four decades, researchers have mostly been focusing on the content of turnaround strategies and have been studying the cases of single firms. Aim: The purpose of this master thesis is to provide a better conception of the role of corporate governance mechanisms in managing the turnaround process in the context of a distressed firm after its acquisition by a foreign company, and the necessity for corporate executives in initiating post-acquisition integration between these merged companies.  Completions and results: A model of corporate governance within the context of international acquisitions of distressed firms was designed. According to the model, corporate governance mechanisms should assure close communication, clear leadership and its continuity, vision and proper choice of the corporate governance actors. Moreover, corporate governance should reinforce post-acquisition integration between the distressed company and the acquirer. It is important to find a proper level of integration according to each particular case. The major focus in international acquisitions should be on managerial and socio-cultural integration. Consequently, proper post-acquisition integration can facilitate the turnaround process and gaining synergies from combining two organizations.

Acquisitions are common in today’s business and people involved in acquisitions face challenges when they become part of this process. This thesis aims to provide an understanding of the human factors that determine the outcome of acquisition integration. Various frameworks exist in the literature that focuses on human and task integration as measures for success. In addition to these, the author explores an additional aspect, customer integration, as an important measure to determine overall integration success. Execution is the key to successful acquisition integration. Employees of a technology company were surveyed to gauge their acquisition experiences over three past acquisitions. The survey was a limited targeted case study that focused on analytical value, rather than statistical value. The survey data is analyzed and aligned with the literature data to identify some possible best practices the technology company could follow in future acquisitions. The survey results are used to establish the implications for the company’s acquisition process and to help the development of a playbook for acquisition integration. / text

Acquisitions have become an increasingly used tool for corporate growth during the lastdecade. Even so, most acquisitions fail, due to a lack of focus on the human elements of the integration process. This research sheds light on the human integration process of acquisitions and more specifically, three of its critical elements; culture, structure and humanresources management. However, when investigating acquisitions at Atlas Copco it becomesapparent that these elements are emphasized and prioritized differently in differentacquisitions. By conducting 22 interviews with managers from both Atlas Copco and managers and employees from three of its acquired organizations, this paper seeks tounderstand how the acquirer should choose an appropriate human integration strategy and what factors that determine that choice. Furthermore, it examines how the acquirer should manage the employees of the acquired firm to facilitate the implementation of changes duringthe integration process. The results shows that the acquirer choose to emphasize and prioritize the aspects that are most important to reform in order to allow the implementationof future changes in the integration process. In these cases, the prioritized aspects are alsoconsidered critical to improve by the employees, therefore the prioritization creates a perception of the acquirer’s good intentions with the integration as a whole. Furthermore, the results reveals that it is important that the acquirer invest in resources for communication,trainings and additional personnel to help the employees understand and support the changesduring the entire process.

In this study, we test the assumption that the way target firm employees respond to a takeover is contingent on their national origin. The antecedents of target firm member trust in the acquiring firm management were examined in a cross-national sample of German and Singaporean employees using a policy-capturing design. Five factors hypothesized to affect target firm member trust after a takeover were found to be significant influences on employees' trust judgments in a decision-making simulation: (i) combining firms' collaboration history, (ii) mode of takeover, (iii) whether it was a domestic or cross-border acquisition, (iv) degree of autonomy removal, and (v) attractiveness of the acquiring firm's human resource policies and reward system. Further analyses suggest that the relative importance of these factors in predicting target firm employees' reactions to a takeover varies depending on their national origin. We conclude that companies engaged in cross-border acquisitions need to consider contingencies in the cultural and institutional contexts in which the acquired firms are embedded and adapt their approaches for integrating them accordingly.

Engaged employees contribute to the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization’s service to their community. Many organizational leaders struggle to engage their employees before, during, and after organizational mergers. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies 9 leaders from 3 merged higher education organizations in the state of Georgia used to encourage employee engagement when their organizations were merging. The conceptual framework for this study was a combination of the transformational leadership theory, the self-efficacy theory, and the acquisition integration approach. After collecting data through semistructured interviews, organizational documentation, and member checking, data analysis through thematic review and triangulation revealed 4 key themes. The major themes for engaging employees during mergers were: strategies establishing a communication plan; strategies creating a cohesive culture, identity, or team; strategies mitigating barriers to employee engagement; and strategies assessing successful implementation for ongoing modification and adjustment of engagement strategies. The implications of this study for social change are that engaged employees might increase the institution’s productivity in educating students to be more successful in the workforce after graduating, and therefore, have a greater capacity to provide for their families and strengthen their communities.

Product innovation, a crucial source of competitive advantage, is a company’s lifeblood to thrive in global, dynamic markets. M&A enable firms to access new markets faster and acquire complementary technologies, knowledge, and resources to facilitate product innovation. Despite global disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain shortages, and M&A failure rates of 70% to 90%, firms continue to invest in M&A. Scholars seek to shed light on the conditions that create and destroy value in M&A, specifically the post-acquisition integration phase. While the effects of acquisitions on customers are an underexplored field today, customer relationships are engines for insights into changing expectations that drive product innovation. Today’s economy enables customers to switch to the competition faster than ever, and on top of that, firms see changes in customer networks after acquisitions. Research discusses the antecedents and outcomes of customer orientation but overlooks the role of customers in M&A. The post-M&A integration stage is the M&A phase where the ultimate value is destroyed or created. This study focuses on customer orientation and organizational complexity and their moderating effect on the post-M&A integration and product innovation performance relationship, concentrating on 188 innovation-centered majority acquisitions. It addresses the research question: How and to what extent do (1) customer orientation and (2) organizational complexity impact the relationship between post-M&A integration and product innovation performance? With that, this research uniquely connects the well-defined constructs of product innovation performance, post-M&A integration, customer orientation, and organizational complexity, and uses a mixed-method approach to investigate the research questions and conceptual model.Quantitative study one provides evidence that post-M&A integration had a significant positive effect on product innovation performance, especially for firms with high customer orientation, which positively moderated the main effect. Organizational complexity negatively moderated the post-M&A integration-product innovation performance relationship. When organizational complexity was relatively high with mean customer orientation, the effect of post-M&A integration on product innovation performance flipped from positive to negative. Under the conditions of relatively high customer orientation with mean organizational complexity, the effect of post-M&A integration on product innovation performance flipped from negative to positive. The results indicate that post-M&A integration was positively related to product innovation performance only for organizations with low organizational complexity. To a certain extent, customer orientation helped alleviate this negative impact of organizational complexity. Overall, study one has shown that a balanced approach of customer orientation and organizational complexity would be recommended. Study one also suggests combining the, in the literature separately considered, efficiency (synergy) and stakeholder theories. The inductive, qualitative study two, conducted with 25 semi-structured interviews, provides insights into how complexity resulting from acquisitions and the relationship with customers should be effectively managed during acquisition integrations to enable product innovation. The findings suggest that acquisitions are inflection points for customers, and customer trust is a crucial influencer of customer decisions. The themes drawn from this study reveal several areas acquirers can proactively manage to impact customer trust: the acquirer’s brand, and reputation, early customer involvement, communication, familiarity with and proximity to the customer, and the responsiveness and reliability to customer inquiries. The confidence in the business partner, that their interactions are based on integrity and reliability is critical and affects the customer-acquirer relationship; even more so when the acquirer is not known to the customer of the acquired firm. While customers should have a seat at the table, the timing of their involvement is critical. Leading innovation-driven acquisition integrations with a customer-centric mindset entails change initiatives that target employees, customers, and partners of the involved firms. The effective interplay of people, agile business processes, and connected, compatible technology between organizations is the foundation for achieving the anticipated value and synergies from integrating the acquired firm into the acquirer’s business. All of that cannot be done without evaluating the impact on the external business environment. Unfavorable decisions taken earlier in the acquisition cycle contribute to challenges later, requiring mitigation plans to be able to achieve the anticipated acquisition goals. The developed management framework guides practitioners to drive product innovation with a well-orchestrated post-acquisition integration process that balances customer orientation and organizational complexity. / Business Administration/Strategic Management

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) are crucial strategies for global business expansion, but they often face high failure rates due to complex integration challenges, especially in cross-border deals. Cultural misalignment is a substantial factor in these failures, underscoring the need for effective cultural integration. This research investigated the impact of cultural alignment on the post-acquisition integration phase in cross-border M&As, aiming to provide insights into managing cultural dynamics to foster successful integrations and mitigate associated risks. The results of our analysis revealed that cultural alignment is highly influential on the success or failure of cross-border M&As. Three main aspects, leadership, communication, and employee engagement require specific attention as they are the most influential factors when blending the culture of two different companies into one unified entity. This study contributes to the literature on the impact of cultural alignment during the integration process of two companies, suggesting that new research in this field can be conducted to understand more in depth the effect of cultural variables during this integration process and to offer practical guidance for future merging companies.