The international experience in domestic mergers – Are purely domestic M&A a myth?

Paralleling the rise of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) over the last decades, the academic study of the international dimensions and challenges of cross-border M&A has increased. This has led to a conceptual distinction between domestic M&As on the one hand, and cross-border M&As on the other hand. Our two ethnographic case studies on domestic mergers enable us to contradict this well-established assumption. We observe domestic mergers to be impacted by cross-border dimensions. These influences bear particular relevance on the merging organizations’ employees’ experience of the merger. In this light, the employee experience is deemed an international vs. domestic one. This leads us to posit that both academics and practitioners engaged with M&As need to bear caution with respect to the established domestic vs. cross-border divide. Our main contribution claims that in a globalized environment, purely domestic M&As are a myth. This finding bears important implications on the practice and theorizing on M&As and international management at large

Research Handbook of Global Leadership: Making a Difference

In this chapter, I explore middle managers as agents and recipients of change, when they face radical organizational change. My focus is on one of the most enduring and impactful radical changes shaping organizations:  mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The aim of the chapter is to capture the characteristics of middle managers, who faced amidst radical organizational change, as in cross-border M&A, not only have to personally thrive amidst this change, but moreover, to act as the driving force of this change. The middle managerial challenge is embedded in this double-hatting - simultaneously delivering, whilst personally living through the same change. This leads me to argue that a middle manager’s development toward global leadership that makes a difference depends on one’s ability to personally undergo and lead such changes, when and where they arise. This requires learning to both implement change and personally make sense of change. Going forward, the chapter calls for academic, pedagogic and practitioner interest in (1) change as an inherent feature of today’s workplace, (2) the role of middle managers in organizations, and (3) the ‘inner world of change’, i.e. the personal experience of making sense of change and remaining resilient amidst change.</p

Silent forces in cross-border acquisitions : an integrative perspective on post-acquisition integration

Despite a continuing increase in the number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), it has been argued that there is an insufficient theoretical understanding of the complexity of the organisational encounter that mergers and acquisitions represent for the firms involved. These concerns are particularly relevant to cross-border acquisitions, which, owing to the presence of different country contexts, are considered to be more challenging than domestic ones. However, there is a surprising lack of qualitative research evidence on cross-border acquisitions. This shortcoming is especially marked as regards the post-acquisition integration of cross-border acquisitions and the cultural dynamics therein. This dissertation took a grounded theory approach with an emergent research design focused on the integration dynamics of cross-border acquisitions. The findings are based on extensive qualitative material relating to a total of 166 interviews with 141 interviewees in eight acquisitions in France, Denmark, Germany, the US, the UK, and Finland. The acquisitions took place during the period of 1990-2000 and were made by four Finnish multinationals operating in different industrial sectors. Interviewees' experiences with eight other former parent firms of European and American origin were also used to inform the research findings. This dissertation contributes to research on mergers and acquisitions by developing an integrative framework of the post-acquisition integration dynamics of cross-border acquisitions. This integrative framework emphasises the importance of jointly considering integration-related strategic, managerial, behavioural, attitudinal, motivational, emotional, cultural, and structural factors to understand the dynamics and outcomes of cross-border acquisitions, conceptualised in terms of the amount of cultural change and organisational identification induced in the acquired firm and the financial performance of the acquisition. The notion of 'silent forces' is introduced to denote those integration-related factors that rarely reach the cognitive attention span of managers involved in acquisitions. In the present corporate context, they typically relate – but are not limited – to the managerial, behavioural, attitudinal, motivational, emotional, and cultural dimensions of organisational life. In other words, buying firms tend to emphasise the financial, strategic, and structural dimensions of cross-border acquisitions to the detriment of the silent forces therein. Unless these forces are recognised, though, they continue exerting a detrimental impact on the progress and successful outcome of cross-border acquisitions. In addition to this important main contribution, this dissertation makes a set of specific contributions to the M&A literature, as regards 1) the impact of the pre-acquisition phase on the post-acquisition phase, 2) the need to consider cultural and structural dimensions of inter-firm differences at departmental, unit, corporate, and national levels of analysis in the assessment of pre-acquisition organisational fit and in the management of post-acquisition change, 3) the components of integration management and the roles within both firms that contribute to the success of the integration efforts, 4) the impact of negative inter-unit emotional tensions on the progress and outcome of integration efforts, 5) the presence, impact, and management of behavioural and systemic manifestations of national cultures in cross-border acquisitions, 6) the impact of language on the effective integration of cross-border acquisitions, 7) factors impacting motivation and uncertainty levels in the acquired firm in the pre-and post-deal eras, 8) the nature and progress of post-acquisition cultural change in the acquired firm following cross-border acquisitions, 9) the nature and progress of organisational identification in the acquired firm following cross-border acquisitions, and 10) the impact of silent forces on the financial performance of cross-border acquisitions. In a broader perspective, the findings contribute to research on cross-cultural management, organisational culture, organisational identity, and organisational cognition. The findings have important managerial implications. For one, they provide an outline of the post-acquisition integration dynamics of cross-border acquisitions. Furthermore, they add to the understanding of managers currently involved in acquisitions by highlighting not only their financial, strategic, and structural dimensions, but also the ways in which less attended managerial, behavioural, attitudinal, motivational, emotional, and cultural factors impact their progress, outcome, and performance. Most importantly, this dissertation encourages managers involved in acquisitions to consider the areas on which they focus their attention during acquisitions, and the extent to which the latter attends to the silent forces identified in this dissertation. In the absence of such attention, one can ask – are buying firms fully aware of the challenges they involve themselves with upon making a cross-border acquisition, and do they tend to engage in cross-border acquisitions with too limited an estimation of the ensuing difficulties?reviewe

Mergers, acquisitions and the evolution of construction professional services firm

Whilst mergers and acquisitions are a favoured means of strategic renewal and expansion for firms, scant academic attention has been placed on the growth patterns of construction professional services firms (CPSFs). This paper focuses on the role of mergers and acquisitions in the evolution of CPSFs. The findings are based on an analysis of the growth patterns of the top 25 CPSFs in the United Kingdom between 1988 and 2013. Since the 1990s, the increase in merger and acquisition activity has shaped the size, international presence, and multi-disciplinary reach of the major CPSFs. However, CPSFs differ with respect to the intensity with which mergers and acquisitions are pursued. Whilst large, public limited companies are active acquirers, smaller and/or privately-owned firms succeed in growing with a more selective acquisitive strategy, as they tend to rely more on organic growth. The findings call construction economists to attend to how acquisitions are radically changing the construction landscape and its main players. As the competitive advantage of firms is increasingly human capital-based, the example of the privately-owned CPSFs that rely on organic modes of growth prompts a critical rethink of the role of mergers and acquisitions in firm growth

Change Organizations in Planned Change - A Closer Look

Despite a plethora of frameworks and processes, in planned organizational change models (POCMs), the role of change organizations, i.e. organizations dedicated to change, remains rarely explored. In this paper, we delve into this subject via a multiple case-based research design studying eleven large Finnish companies via 33 interviews. We find that although all studied case companies bear some component(s) of change organizations, these vary substantially. To this end, our findings bear three contributions. First, we propose a typology on change organizations as consisting of change networks, change teams and individual change roles, incorporating varying dimensions each. We further found three interrelations between these dimensions. Second, we demonstrate that change organizations exist in company practice more than they appear in the POCM literature. Third, we develop a framework for the evaluation of the maturity of a company's change organization. Going forward, our findings are a call for further research on change organizations and their role in planned organizational change.MAD statementThis article aims to Make a Difference (MAD) by offering a coherent lens that can be used both in the research and in the development of change organizations, in theory and in practice. Change organizations (networks, teams and roles dedicated to change) are a somewhat underrepresented dimension in classic planned organizational change models. However, in practice, companies' change organizations play various active roles in planned change. Building on evidence from a multiple case study of eleven Finnish large companies, we suggest a multi-dimensional typology on change organizations. Through identified interrelations, we suggest that certain types of change organizations may be preferred over others in particular circumstances. In addition, we offer a change organization maturity framework for developing and evaluating companies' change organizations

The Debate If Agents Matter vs. the System Matters in Sustainability Transitions—A Review of the Literature

Transition studies is a growing discipline for addressing sustainability challenges. Traditionally, its focus has been at the system level. However, addressing sustainability challenges also requires attending to the role of agents in sustainability transitions. This is the focus adopted in this paper. We review the literature on agency in sustainability transitions, based on 77 journal articles on sustainability transitions listed in Scopus from 2014 to 2018. We find that agency is increasingly explored in the sustainability transitions literature. Despite this growing interest, this body of knowledge remains scattered in regard to typologies or theoretical framings. Our review leads us to identify three recurring themes. One theme drew our attention in particular: the transition research community is divided into those who argue that agency is sufficiently embedded in the transition literature and those who oppose this argument. Going forward, the dynamics of individual-level agency, including behaviors and motivation, deserve further attention

Theorizing in the qualitative study of mergers & acquisitions

This paper focuses on theorizing in the study of mergers and acquisitions (M&As), a globally significant inter-organizational phenomenon. We analyze 76 qualitative papers on M&As published in leading management journals between 1966–2016. We identify five modes of theorizing in the study of M&As. We find that M&A scholars make theoretical contributions using different theoretical positioning and research design strategies. The majority of the papers offer a contribution to middle-range theorizing (i.e., the literature on M&As), while a third of the papers also contribute to higher-order, or grand theories in management. In closing, this leads us to call for a rejuvenation of middle-range theorizing in management research.</p