Cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have become a prominent internationalization and growth strategy of today’s global business landscape. However, the practice faces significant failure in terms of value creation. To this end, the post-merger integration of information systems (IS) is critical for the failure rate of M&As due to the complexity and ambiguity of how and what systems should be consolidated. Research has been carried out to provide frameworks illustrating IS integration methods and the relationship between business strategies and IS integration strategies but omits potential factors that influence the level of IS integration. Hence, the aim of this study is to examine what factors influence how information systems are integrated in cross-border M&As. This was carried out through a qualitative multiple-case study of 9 Swedish multinational corporations with recent M&A activity. The study finds that there are five IS integration methods, one of which was added by this study in order to cover all levels of how IS are integrated. Additionally, a mixture of factors was found to influence specific IS integration methods where the M&A context, design of the IS integration, and organizational characteristics were on a general level found to be most influential. This suggests previous findings focused on alignment of business strategies and IS integration strategies need a nuanced view to further explain the failure rates of M&As.

In recent years, the global mergers and acquisitions (M&As) boom surging, especially after the financial tsunami. The enterprise mentality ¡§the big get bigger¡¨, for the rapid expansion and market share. Breaking the previous mode of operation alone, corporate mergers and acquisitions have become an important strategy for the rapid growing and maintain competitive advantage. There are many factors that impact mergers and acquisitions integration. The real test is just beginning after mergers and acquisitions transaction is completed. Mergers and acquisitions integration management can help companies to play the synergies of mergers and acquisitions. It¡¦s an important key to determine the success of mergers and acquisitions. Information systems (IS) integration is among the most challenging tasks in corporate mergers and acquisitions (Alaranta and Henningsson, 2008). Corporate mergers and acquisitions generate the integration and remodeling of the corporate culture, business and organizational overlap. The relative makes the complexity of information systems integration becomes higher, and more difficult in the integration. At the same time, considering how to achieve the synergies, through integration of information systems and overcoming the uncertain changes. This study adopts the case study approach to a large panel manufacturer. Summarized the primary and secondary data and actually involved in the observed induction, related aspects of the system functionality, business process, organizational and external supply chain, to find the factors of information systems integration. And then explore the process of information systems integration in corporate mergers and acquisitions in order to establish the mode of information system integration. Finally also provide reference for large-scale merger and acquisitions.

Past studies often discussed competition strategies in terms of SWOT analysis for establishing development strategies or in terms of game theory for drawing up short-term Co-opetition strategies. Yet, none of them can reveal the cause-and-effect phenomenon of information system integration companies that develop resources for performing contracts and the Co-opetition strategy at tendering period according to the condition of organizational resources; also, the companies improve knowledge and resources that will affect the tender game and the operation strategy. Hence, from a broader view, the enterprise competition strategies were discussed at ordinary and tender periods through case study of an information system integration company for department stores to investigate the Co-opetition model. From the history of the target company, this study analyzed the intended strategy at ordinary times and the emergent strategy for tendering, and investigated how enterprises accomplish strategic goals by means of resource leverage. Findings indicated that enterprises ¡§develop¡¨ the required resources according to the SWOT analysis and ¡§make full use¡¨ of existing resources to win the tender according to the PARTS analysis; and ¡§resource maintenance¡¨ affects the strategy and opportunity in subsequent games. The application of resource leverage in the above three arguments was also investigated. Furthermore, the ¡§synergy¡¨ of organizational resource development can affects the subsequent strategies and operations. Finally, a Co-opetition model for companies of information system integration is proposed as a reference model for Co-opetition strategy analysis.

The Higher Education (HE) sector of a country is a key area indicating the progress of cultural, political and social growth and development. Public and social demands as well as technological developments add new challenges for this sector. Consequently, higher education institutions have changed and a more flexible IT infrastructure is required to enable them to adapt efficiently to competitive business challenges. Enterprise application integration (EAI) is a technology that effectively integrates intra- and inter-organizational systems. Firstly a systematic review of the EAI literature was conducted. From this review, it was apparent that there are no theoretical models for EAI adoption and evaluation for higher education. Hence, this research contributes a conceptual model that includes influential factors derived from the literature and combines them with the proposed classification of influential factors for HE to produce an EAI conceptual model for the HE domain. To validate this proposed model empirical research was conducted. Then, the model was tested using a qualitative case study approach by means of three case studies that were conducted at different universities. Exploratory, explanatory and interpretive data analysis phases were implemented to find what is the current EAI process of HE and how these institutions currently work. In addition, these phases were employed to identify the EAI adoption factors in HE. As a result of this analysis the conceptual model was modified because of complementary factors that emerged. Therefore, the main contribution of this research is a comprehensive and novel model for EAI adoption in higher education area. The adoption EAI factors were identified by extracting a number of parameters from the empirical data. Several important factors that influence and assist the adoption of EAI in HE were identified. Hence, an additional contribution is the classification of factors in EAI adoption into technical and social factors which provides a better understanding of these factors. A further contribution is the derivation of a new classification of the EAI external and internal pressure factors. The development of a consistent model for the adoption and evaluation of EAI in HE is based on these factors.

Mergers and acquisitions are common in the modern economy, where the number has increased significantly in recent decades. Despite this increase in popularity, it leads in most cases to value destruction in both short and long term. The large proportion of failures is due to many different factors. One of the most critical, but still underrepresented in previous literature is an effective integration of information systems. Studies in the high-tech sector are particularly underrepresented. This study addresses this by describing how the information systems are integrated after an acquisition between two IT consulting companies. The study is based on the experiences of people involved in the acquisition process. Eight interviews are conducted with people from both the acquiring and the acquired part. The study examines the connection between integration strategies, how the work with IS integration relates to the acquisition process, and what challenges that may arise. The study shows that the synergy effects that arise from the integration of information systems for an area that is merged must be weighed against synergy effects for the entire business when mergers take place in several places. Also, that unclear system ownership can be a challenge after the integration of information systems in mergers and acquisitions. / Företagsförvärv är vanligt förekommande i den moderna ekonomin där antalet ökat markant senaste decennierna. Trots denna ökning i popularitet leder det i de flesta fall till värdeförstörande på både kort och lång sikt. Stora andelen misslyckanden beror på många olika faktorer. En av det mest kritiska, men fortfarande underrepresenterad i tidigare litteratur är effektiv integration av informationssystem. Särskilt underrepresenterad är studier som berör den högteknologiska sektorn. Det bemöter denna studie genom att beskriva hur informationssystem integreras i ett företagsförvärv mellan två IT-konsultbolag utifrån upplevelser av personer involverade i förvärvsprocessen. Åtta stycken intervjuer genomförs med personer från både uppköparen och uppköpta parten. I uppsatsen undersöks sambandet mellan integrationsstrategier, hur arbetet med IS-integrationen förhåller sig till förvärvsprocessen samt vilka utmaningar som kan uppstå. Studien visar att de synergieffekter som tillkommer av integration av informationssystem för ett området som slås samman måste vägas mot synergieffekter för hela verksamheten då sammanslagning sker på flera ställen. Även att otydligt systemägarskap kan vara en utmaning efter integrationen av informationssystem vid företagsförvärv.

Due to advancements in manufacturing digitalization and connectivity; industry 4.0,manufacturing organizations are seeing an increase of data volume, velocity, and variety.Information Systems (IS) such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Product LifecycleManagement (PLM), and Manufacturing Execution System (MES) are used to handle thesedata compositions within organizations. The IS have different purposes, creating anorganizational, procedural as well as a technical difficulty to capture added value from data.Integrating people, processes, and technology yields a synergetic effect where data value iseffectively harnessed to create business insights and thus enable better decision-making indelivering value to the end-customer. This study sought to examine how a complex manufacturing organization can draw benefitsfrom the synergy effect of integrated IS, and consequently find factors that positively affectthe level of integration. The study evaluates a Swedish manufacturing company's presentintegration maturity and compares it to best practices found in the literature. The analysiscaptures gaps between the current situation and best practices, allowing for the formulationof areas of improvement. The as-is situation of the studied company was assessed with the help of an IS integrationmaturity model. A literature review was conducted to complete the maturity model. Aqualitative data collection was conducted to help both assess current situation and provideappropriate recommendations.  Findings of the study imply that there are different approaches for integrating separate orisolated components. These approaches depend on the interdependence and complexity oftasks. When interdependence is simple, different forms of standardization is most effective.On the other hand, when interdependence is complex, coordination becomes more crucial.Complex tasks require standardization of norms, while simple tasks require standardizationof output. Solutions and future aspects have been provided for collecting data value in a manufacturingenvironment. Mapped out various academic research regarding integrations and comparedit to a real-world case in order to find commonalities and differences. Identified a missingCritical Success Factor in an existing but aged assessment model for IS integrations.

The dissertation focuses on information support for the strategic management of universities in the Czech Republic, using competitive intelligence as a framework. Qualitative and quantitative research methods - text analysis, questionnaire survey and conceptual modelling - have been used to achieve the goal of the dissertation.Current state of the topic is reviewed both from the global and Czech perspective, with a special emphasis on legal and economic environment in which Czech universities operate. Strategic and organizational aspects of the information support provided to university management are evaluated. Data necessary for the provision of information support are also discussed. The key role of university libraries in the information support for university strategic management is identified.Categorization of internal and external information sources forming the data base for the strategic management support and the conceptual model of the data base are the main results of the dissertation. Key words competitive intelligence, strategic management, information managment, university evaluation, public universities, information support, information systems, information systems integration, public management and administration, Czech Republic,