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Taking over or taking in? A qualitative case study of successful acquisitions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2020

Roy K. Smollan Open the ORCID record for Roy K. Smollan [Opens in a new window]  and
Chris Griffiths Open the ORCID record for Chris Griffiths [Opens in a new window]
Roy K. Smollan*
Affiliation:
Department of Management, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
Chris Griffiths
Affiliation:
Department of Management, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
*
*Corresponding author. Email: roy.smollan@aut.ac.nz
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Abstract

There is a widely held but scarcely challenged belief that most organizational changes fail, especially in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Failure of M&A is often attributed to factors such as differences in organizational cultures, contested identities, perceived injustice, lack of trust, ineffective leadership and poor communication. A qualitative study was conducted in an acquiring company and two target companies to identify the criteria of a successful change, to explore perceptions of the degree of success of the acquisition(s) they had experienced, and to investigate the factors influencing these perceptions. The findings demonstrated that M&A can be considered successful when attention is paid, not only to integration of practices, but also to socio-cultural factors in managing M&A processes. The overall evaluation of these two acquisitions was that they had been successful. Implications for theory and practice include the possible differences between small- and large-scale M&A experiences.

Keywords

mergers and acquisitionsorganizational changeorganizational cultureleadershipsuccess/failure
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , First View , pp. 1 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2020

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