<p>Background: The literature concerning M&A has thus far concentrated on the merging companies, and on what kind of effects an acquisition has on these companies. The effects on the involved companies´ (customers and) suppliers have largely been ignored in the M & A literature. </p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse how the suppliers relationships to the aquired company are influenced by an acquisition and how the suppliers handle the following situation. Method: The paper has been carried out in the form of a case-study and we have interviewed some suppliers to the automotive industry. </p><p>Results: The full effect on the suppliers relationships to Volvo has not been seen yet, due to the fact that only two years has passed since the acquisition and that the current products have a lifecycle of 3-5 years. A number of changes have been discovered, but we don't consider theese tendencies to be results of the acquisition. However have their penetration strengthens through the acquisition.</p>

Background: The literature concerning M&amp;A has thus far concentrated on the merging companies, and on what kind of effects an acquisition has on these companies. The effects on the involved companies´ (customers and) suppliers have largely been ignored in the M &amp; A literature. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse how the suppliers relationships to the aquired company are influenced by an acquisition and how the suppliers handle the following situation. Method: The paper has been carried out in the form of a case-study and we have interviewed some suppliers to the automotive industry. Results: The full effect on the suppliers relationships to Volvo has not been seen yet, due to the fact that only two years has passed since the acquisition and that the current products have a lifecycle of 3-5 years. A number of changes have been discovered, but we don't consider theese tendencies to be results of the acquisition. However have their penetration strengthens through the acquisition.