Global merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions exceeded $4.7 trillion in 2015, yet more than 70% of M&As fail to meet postmerger performance expectations with unsuccessful organizational integration cited as the primary source of failure. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore organizational integration strategies some business leaders use to achieve anticipated postmerger performance and growth expectations. The study population consisted of 10 executive and midlevel business leaders in 2 privately held companies, domiciled in Arizona and Iowa, who have contributed to successful organizational integration in M&A transactions in the last 5 years. The tenets of organizational change management composed the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected by semistructured interviews, reviews of internal documents, and publicly available information. Data were analyzed using inductive analysis to identify patterns and themes. The themes identified were organizational planning, communications, performance and growth, culture, and leadership and management. The study findings can assist business leaders in understanding the importance of organizational integration planning in the earliest phases of M&A transactions to improve M&A successes. The study findings contribute to positive social change by enhancing business leaders' knowledge to improve M&A postmerger performance, which can stabilize current employment, create new employment opportunities, and generate positive economic improvements for the broader stakeholder group.

This thesis aims to provide insights on how private-sector inter-organizational collaboration creates interaction and synergistic value towards sustainability. Value propositions are directed towards individuals, organizations and society at large. To achieve this purpose, an explorative, in-depth case study on the NextWave initiative is conducted to address the sustainability challenge of marine plastic pollution. An abductive research approach is applied, matching main theories of both private-sector partnerships and value co-creation with empirical data gathered through semi-structured interviews with NextWave members. The study looks at individual as well as collaborative activities leading to the cocreationof interaction and synergistic value. It is further analyzed, how these created values lead toexternal system change towards sustainability. Key findings are limited to the case of NextWave as the intent of the study is an initial exploration of the topic. The data leads the authors to an affirmative conclusion, delivering a number of activity and process examples that foster collaboration and promote interaction and synergistic value. That, in turn, allows for system change and a more sustainable development. Therefore, this thesis makes valuable contributions to the theoretical knowledge of collaboration and value creation. Additionally, a conceptual and analytical framework based on contemporary literature contributes to the body of knowledge as well as allows practical application.