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Collaboration and acquisition have traditionally been observed as two alternative strategies when accessing external technologies. However, real option scholars have recently argued that firms can also engage in transitional technology sourcing trajectories where collaboration and acquisition are used as complementary strategies. While these real option scholars have identified factors that influence when partners are likely to shift from collaboration to acquisition, they remain silent on how such a transition can be effectively managed. Based on a multiple case study of four transitional technology sourcing trajectories between one new entrepreneurial and one established firm, this study therefore explores how the pre-acquisition collaboration stage and the post-acquisition integration are related to each other. Findings suggest that entrepreneurial companies may use the pre-acquisition collaboration stage as a period to evaluate the goodwill of the established partner. In addition, we point to the presence of pre-acquisition integration efforts and the extent of strategic convergence during the pre-acquisition collaboration stage as factors that substantially influence the success of the post-acquisition integration process in transitional governance trajectories.

The company closed the deal over two‐years ago, but the organization is still not operating as one company: results are lagging, customers are defecting, and shareholders are restless. Management thought that they checked off all of the right deal actions, including: a thorough due diligence (operations, finances, systems, and people); assigning appropriate integration resources early and keeping them available throughout the integration process; developing and executing detailed integration plans; and measuring, tracking, and reporting implementation progress against the integration plans. But, somewhere, somehow, something went wrong – and it has to be fixed, or else. The transaction itself was completed too long ago for any action now to be truly considered “post‐deal integration.” The situation the company now faces is “merger repair.” Unfortunately, they are not alone. Numerous, well‐intentioned deals have gone sour either due to gross negligence or because of a series of small – but in aggregate very powerful – mistakes and/or delays. This article provides a method to identify whether or not a company is in need of “merger repair,” and an approach (including supporting tools and templates) to perform the needed “repairs.”

In working with numerous clients on merger integration efforts we have identified that, not only do many companies struggle with their immediate M&A integration efforts, but they also suffer chronic performance issues caused by past integration efforts that have been allowed to linger and/or have been managed poorly.

Conducting M&A integration efforts poorly creates lasting business performance issues (e.g. poor customer service, lower than desired productivity, lack of cost control, and/or unrealized revenue improvement) long after a deal is closed. Almost half (49 percent) of the respondents to The University of Dallas Graduate School Of Management's, 2006 Mergers and Acquisitions Survey – The Current State of M&A Integration (including 124 executives and managers from 21 different industries), indicated that their company is in need of “merger repair.” There are two key tracks of “merger repair” companies can pursue to first get the business back on track, and then to improve the organization's future M&A integration competency.

This article advances the current theory and practice of post‐merger integration that, up to this point, has focused exclusively on integration activities conducted immediately (i.e. within the first 6 to 12‐months) of deal close. This article also addresses how to identify and address integration issues that still exist two or more years after a deal is closed, by providing pragmatic tools and templates that practitioners can immediately apply to both identify and resolve situations of “merger repair.” Lastly, the approach described has broad application to companies across multiple industries and geographies.

This paper aims to explore whether firms that integrate only with partners adjacent to them in the supply chain exhibit different patterns of supply chain practice and performance than those that also integrate with partners more distant in the supply chain.

Cluster analysis of survey data is used to partition firms based on the span of the supply chain involved in their integration efforts.

Firms with a broad span of integration have a greater focus on alignment with suppliers and customers, and have more of a supply chain focus than those with a narrow span. They also demonstrate higher levels of performance attributable to supply chain relationships.

Results highlight the importance to supply chain professionals of taking a broad view of the supply chain rather than focusing only on first tier suppliers and customers. They also suggest the importance of exploring opportunities to facilitate broader participation in supply chain integration efforts.

Past research has identified the importance of supply chain integration without addressing the importance of how much of the supply chain should be involved in such efforts. This study provides empirical support for the need to involve partners across the supply chain.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of how socially‐embedded information systems (IS), knowledge, and firm capabilities can impact the post‐merger integration efforts of a firm. In particular, this research seeks to identify, describe, and analyze how socially‐embedded resources hindered the integration of the procurement function following the merger of two telecommunications firms.

This research was designed as a longitudinal exploratory study of a single case. The design involved multiple interviews, participant observation, and an evaluation of multiple data sources. Data were collected to develop a comprehensive and reliable understanding of events and outcomes related to the systems integration effort. Process models are used to show the development of phenomena over time.

The findings of the research are twofold. First, in line with previous findings on socially‐embedded resources, the research shows that socially‐embedded resources hindered the ability of a merged firm to integrate some resources. Previous research argued that social constraints can prevent a firm from changing the way it uses resources to establish a competitive advantage, and this research confirms those findings. Second, this research is an important contribution because it identifies two social constraints in particular – cognitive sunk costs and the reluctance to defy social traditions – that contributed to the inability of the merged firm to successfully integrate the procurement function following a merger.

The findings of this study provide empirical evidence to support the theoretical argument that the socially embedded resources involved in the IS, knowledge, and firm capabilities of each of the firms prior to the merger enabled them to establish a competitive advantage in their respective market environments. Further, the data provide validation for the idea that the social context in which firms compete does, in fact, contribute to the development of competitive advantages. The RBV is also extended by showing that the same social contexts can also prevent firms from integrating important resources following a corporate merger.

One of the main objectives of executive management following a corporate merger is to lead the organization in skillfully integrating key resources of the merged organization. However, most firms cannot successfully engage in post‐merger integration efforts unless they fully understand how resources such as IS, knowledge, and firm capabilities can help or hinder their integration efforts. By highlighting one firm's efforts to integrate resources following a merger, the paper provides concrete examples of potential problems that can arise. Potential problems and hindrances are presented in a strategic checklist for managerial consideration.

The purpose of this paper is to detect and challenge generally accepted management and consulting practice in Mergers & Acquisitions (M&As). M&As have been an important issue in strategic management and corporate development for decades. The integration process of two separate entities has been found to be of importance, and has, accordingly, received a significant amount of attention by research, management and consulting literature. Based on these insights, managers tend to rely on well-established and generally accepted rules developed by practice and consultants that should support a successful integration process and the generation of value. Nonetheless, M&As’ efforts still often fail to create value. So is the common practice of the established drivers and beneficial consequences of the integration of M&As right, or do the experiences of consultants, companies and managers reveal something different?

To understand these challenges, the authors spent four years studying M&A projects and subsequent integration processes of more than 400 companies that engaged in M&A efforts. The data derived from four survey-based quantitative studies among more than 430 CEOs, CFOs and other senior managers in the field of M&As and personal interviews that were conducted to get in-depth insights.

This extensive research on the efforts and projects of M&As over many years and including many companies reveals that successful integration processes are complex, social and culturally dependent endeavors and that the application of commonly accepted and established principles oversimplifies and disregards the interdependencies.

The present paper unveils four established principles concerning the successful integration after M&As as tenacious myths and provides more differentiated insights into value-destroying and value-creating mechanisms in M&As.

This study aims to understand how integration efforts at both communication and channel levels can foster customer engagement behavior in the retail sector from the perspective of employees.

Data were collected through 231 face-to-face questionnaires completed by frontline employees in shopping centers. A structural equation modeling approach was applied to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results highlight the importance of integration efforts as external stimuli for enhancing employees’ perceptions about customer engagement behavior. Findings extend the stimulus-organism-response model by predicting responses that go beyond employees’ behavior to predict customer engagement behavior. Results also confirm the mediating role of attitudes toward marketing communications and synergy realization in the proposed model.

Retailers should integrate their multiple channels and operate consistently and in coordination through them to develop employees’ perceptions about customer engagement behavior. Managers should regularly collect information from their employees as they represent an important touchpoint in omnichannel retailing.

There is a gap in the omnichannel retailing literature regarding how integration efforts at a communication level may complement integration efforts at a channel level for developing customer engagement. This study addresses this gap by adopting a novel perspective using frontline employees as a source of information for assessing customer engagement behavior. It extends knowledge about how customer engagement behavior may be developed and strengthened from the employees’ point of view.

Este estudio analiza, desde la perspectiva del empleado, cómo la integración de la comunicación y la coordinación de los canales de distribución fomenta el engagement de los clientes en el sector minorista.

Los datos fueron recogidos a través de 231 cuestionarios personales realizados a empleados de centros comerciales. Las hipótesis se contrastaron mediante un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales.

Los resultados destacan la importancia de la integración para fomentar la percepción de los empleados acerca del engagement del cliente. Estos resultados extienden la aplicación del Modelo de Estimulo-Organismo-Respuesta para predecir no sólo el comportamiento de los empleados si no el engagement del cliente. Los resultados también corroboran el rol mediador de la actitud hacia las comunicaciones de marketing y la obtención de sinergias.

Los distribuidores deben integrar todos los canales y actuar de forma coordinada y consistente para mejorar la percepción de los empleados acerca del engagement del cliente. Se debe recabar información periódica sobre las percepciones de los empleados ya que constituyen un importante punto de contacto en la gestión omnicanal de los establecimientos comerciales.

Este estudio aborda un gap existente en la literatura acerca de cómo los esfuerzos de integración a nivel de comunicación complementan los esfuerzos a nivel de canal para fomentar el engagement del cliente. La novedad de este estudio reside en estudiar estos aspectos desde la perspectiva de los empleados.

本研究旨在从员工的角度了解沟通和渠道层面的整合工作如何促进零售部门的顾客参与行为。

数据收集于购物中心一线员工所填写的231份面对面问卷。应用结构方程建模方法来检验所提出的假设。

本文结果强调了整合工作作为外部激励对于提高员工对顾客参与行为的认知的重要性。研究结果通过预测超越员工行为的反应来预测客户参与行为, 从而扩展了刺激-机体-反应模型。结果还证实了对营销传播和协同实现的态度在所提出的模型中的中介作用。

零售商应该整合其多种渠道, 并通过这些渠道持续协调地运作, 以培养员工对顾客参与行为的认知。管理者应该定期从员工那里收集信息, 因为他们是全渠道零售的一个重要接触点。

在全渠道零售业的文献中, 关于沟通层面的整合工作如何补充渠道层面的整合工作以发展顾客参与的问题, 存在研究差距。本研究通过采用新颖的视角, 将一线员工作为评估顾客参与行为的信息来源来解决这一差距。它扩展了关于如何从员工的角度发展和加强顾客参与行为的知识。

Despite the recent slow down in overall activity, acquisitions continue to be a popular growth strategy used by firms competing in a globally competitive marketplace (Duck, Sirower & Dumas, 2002). At the same time, acquisitions are more of a complex phenomenon than ever in that the conditions under which they enhance or destroy firm value still remain unclear despite the wealth of acquisition studies in finance and management. In fact, recent studies by several major consulting and advisory services firms provide evidence that at a minimum one-third to one-half of these deals fail to achieve anticipated benefits, cost savings and other outcomes (KPMG, 1999; Mergerstat, 2000; PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2000). Even more alarming, the latest reports released by Booz Allen and Hamilton (2001) and BusinessWeek (Henry, 2002) indicate that this “failure” to deliver announced benefits and improvements in shareholder wealth increases to over 60% when examining large M&As which typically bring together two firms that not only compete in similar product or market domains but also have comparable size positions. Thus, the question lingers…What distinguishes those acquisitions that are successful in meeting intended goals and performance improvements from those that are not successful?

The terminology “supply chain management” is used frequently in today’s materials management environment and is generally associated with advanced information technologies, rapid and responsive logistics service, effective supplier management, and increasingly with customer relationship management. Most materials managers are familiar with the supply chain mantra of “suppliers’ supplier to customers’ customer”. However, experience shows that few companies are actually engaged in such extensive supply chain integration. To obtain an accurate view of SCM as it is currently practiced, the experience and insight of industry managers engaged in supply chain initiatives was sought via a multi‐method empirical approach involving both surveys and case study interviews. The findings reveal that supply chain practice seldom resembles the theoretical ideal. Three different levels of SCM implementation are identified and a series of limiting factors are discussed. Managers must recognize the tension that exists between SCM’s competitive potential and the inherent difficulty of collaboration.

This article aims to explore how objects function in integration efforts in health and social care contexts.

The article draws on boundary object theory and empirical data collected from a range of health and social care integration initiatives in Wales to illustrate the value of the focus on objects and to identify the potential implications of this approach for studies in other national contexts.

Attention to objects can shed light on the dynamics of integration, its potential and limits, offering insights that conventional analysis might otherwise miss.

The data drawn on in this paper are illustrative. Exploring the role of objects in integration requires more focused studies.

The results suggest that integration designers and managers need to pay closer attention to the attachments that practitioners develop to objects.

This is a highly original paper in view of its innovative use of boundary object theory in the context of integration, and its contribution to theory, research and practice.

This paper seeks to explore critical factors that may obstruct or advance integration efforts initiated by the clinical management following a hospital merger. The aim is to increase the understanding of why clinical integration succeeds or fails.

The authors compare two cases of clinical integration efforts following the Karolinska University Hospital merger in Sweden. Each case represents two merged clinical departments of the same specialty from each hospital site. In total, 53 interviews were conducted with individuals representing various staff categories and documents were collected to check data consistency.

The study identifies three critical factors that seem to be instrumental for the process and outcome of integration efforts and these are clinical management's interpretation of the mandate; design of the management constellation; and approach to integration. Obstructive factors are: a sole focus on the formal assignment from the top; individual leadership; and the use of a classic, planned, top‐down management approach. Supportive factors are: paying attention to multiple stakeholders; shared leadership; and the use of an emergent, bottom‐up management approach within planned boundaries. These findings are basically consistent with the literature's prescriptions for managing professional organisations.

Managers need to understand that public healthcare organisations are based on competing institutional logics that need to be handled in a balanced way if clinical integration is to be achieved – especially the tension between managerialism and professionalism.

By focusing on the merger consequences for clinical units, this paper addresses an important gap in the healthcare merger literature.