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This study aims to confirm earlier findings that differences between merger and acquisition (M&A) participant firms are a hurdle for successful mergers and shows that merger outcomes can also be affected by the post-merger integration duration (PMID).

Experimental research on distinct cultures developed within experimental pre-merger subject groups is used to compare pre- and post-integration performances.

This study finds that firm distance (i.e. inherent differences between pre-merger firms) negatively influences merger success; no significant relationship between firm distance and PMID exists and PMID is positively related to merger success. Specifically, a slower integration minimizes conflicts between merger partners, enhances trust-building and reduces the disruption of existing resources and processes in both firms, which may benefit M&As. By contrast, a fast integration that shortens the overall integration process may discourage the combined entity from recognizing the intended synergy quickly.

The new finding that PMID can affect merger outcomes invites empirical validation. This study presents experimental evidence that prolonged, well-structured post-merger integration may compensate for the negative time-variant issues associated with PMID.

Organizational support for collaborative learning between professional members should be a strategic consideration for firms so that acquiring business capabilities can be more natural and cost-efficient than building internal capabilities despite possibly slowing down the integration process. Encouraging a transfer of technical and client knowledge between the combined members can create value and understand differences in both the form and content of each firm’s knowledge base and the pre-existing mechanisms for sharing knowledge. It may lower the level of resistance in knowledge transfer.

While M&As may better facilitate the cost-effective expansion of business offerings than building capabilities internally, they can require considerable time, preventing many firms from realizing their intended outcomes. Nevertheless, less attention has been focused on PMID and its influence on M&As. This study is the first to use experimental research to examine the effects of PMID on merger success.

This study aims to test the authors’ theory that in an integrated sales team, the larger team (either from the acquiring or acquired firm) dominates the smaller team, even though it may be less competent than the smaller one, and that the level of competence of the integrated entity with the dominant but inferior larger team is bound to deteriorate.

The study tests the theory by conducting a laboratory experiment.

The results from the experiment show that an asymmetrical employee composition structure creates merger dominance in the post-integration group and influences the integration performance.

Considering the lack of mergers and acquisitions research in the marketing literature, the author believes that this study contributes new information to the literature. The finding that an integrated entity with a dominant but inferior larger partner will demonstrate a resulting degeneration of competence invites empirical research for validation.

The integration of sales teams is central to ensuring revenue growth and driving the value that mergers promise but often fail to realize. The study findings provide some practical insights in this regard.

Mergers between asymmetrical partners are common phenomena. However, few studies have investigated how an unequal size of sales teams in pre-merger firms influences the effective integration of different sales teams. To fill this research gap, this study examines whether the involvement of an unequal number of salespeople from pre-merger firms in a post-merger sales team may influence its post-merger performance.

The multiple organizational factors impacting on a merger as well as those processes being impacted on throughout the merger process will be examined. First, the issue of constant and lucid communication and its importance throughout the merger and acquisition (M&A) process will be addressed. Second, an examination of the current corporate culture and its effects on employees when two companies merge is analyzed, while illuminating the realities of the new culture. An exploration of change in general is examined, as well as the reaction of employees (resistance) to these changes. Next, the article addresses the critical issue of stress, which is an M&A outcome within the new and uncertain environment. The article concludes with the process of managing and strategy throughout the phases. Furthermore, the five major sections (communications, corporate culture, change, stress, and managing/strategy) are sub‐divided into three sub‐sections: pre‐merger; during the merger; post‐merger.

The incidence of mergers and acquisitions has proliferated throughout the world including all sectors of our society, both municipal and industrial, private and public. However, the majority (60‐80 percent) of them do not reach their intended objectives owing to the fact that the merging organizations do not realize the impact of neglecting the human resource factor. Although they properly assess and address the financial and legal issues, they continually overlook this critical factor. The present literature suggests what organizations should do to reverse these negative effects and how to properly address the human resources issues. This research seeks to test this list of suggestions, in the form of a unified model, employing the single case study method. The case in question is a newly merged health centre comprised of four well‐established hospitals. Rather than a set of hypotheses, sets of prescriptions were developed to test the model. Data from interviews and existing documents are used to support or modify the final model. The qualitative results utilized a cross‐method analysis that supported the majority of the unified model, requiring a few modifications. This research has subsequently lead to the development of a unified human resources model for the proper and successful implementation of mergers and acquisitions. The implications of these findings for all organizations, and for mergers and acquisitions theory and practice, are discussed.

The literature has described knowledge transfer in terms of how companies advance their merger and acquisition activities through experience. This indicates a knowledge transfer from one acquisition to the next, with the acquiring party being the carrier of such knowledge. The present paper aims to add to this view through pointing out how knowledge on how to acquire and how to integrate, follows also from other parties and their experiences. The paper discusses and classifies sources, directions and outcomes of knowledge transfer on acquisitions from a stakeholder point of view. Focus is on external stakeholders and knowledge is divided between knowledge on acquiring and knowledge on integrating, thus dealing with the pre- and post-merger stages of acquisitions.

The paper adopts a multiple case study research design to illustrate its point. While the individual acquisitions are interconnected through the acquirer or acquired party being the same company, indications are that knowledge on how, when and what party to acquire and how to integrate (degree, direction, timing and function) follows from external stakeholders and their previous experiences.

The findings suggest that knowledge on acquiring follows from general knowledge on sector levels, while specific parties – including customers, competitors and the acquired party – are the sources of knowledge on integration. Knowledge on acquiring is imitative, while knowledge on integrating rests more on the external stakeholders’ failures.

The paper provides a research design contribution to acquisition studies, as most such studies adopt a quantitative, secondary data approach. The main contribution is though the focus on external stakeholders as sources of knowledge on acquiring and integrating. The previous literature seems to suggest that it is the experience accumulated through the acquirer’s previous acquisitions that provides the acquisition knowledge. The paper’s perspective, which includes several external stakeholders, provides a rather unique piece of research on stakeholders in mergers and acquisitions.

The authors investigate the pre-merger process, defined as the period between the announcement and completion of an M&A (mergers and acquisitions) deal. Specifically, the authors examine if the timing of the announcement in a merger wave affects whether or not the M&A deal is completed, and how long this pre-merger process takes. The authors conduct a textual analysis of the 150 largest abandoned M&A deals in the sample. From this, the authors find that competing bidders, regulatory concerns, and shareholder opposition from the acquirer are major roadblocks in the pre-merger process, and that these hurdles often occur jointly. Subsequently, the authors examine a sample of 2,802 announced M&As across four industry waves and find that M&A deals initiated earlier in a merger wave are more likely to be completed and are completed more speedily.

In the context of the conflicting results of earlier studies, this chapter proposes a model of pre-merger identification and commitment to merger (in a pre-merger setting) by taking into account the multi-dimensional nature of commitment. First it argues that commitment to merger, rather than commitment to organization, drives behaviour in a merger. Then pre-merger identification is hypothesized to be positively related to normative and continuance commitment and either negatively or not significantly related to affective commitment.

The purpose of this paper is to study more deeply the use of performance information (PI) in the context of the administrative-territorial reform, e.g. amalgamation in the local governments (LG) with an example of Estonian LGs.

The case study method is adopted, using data from publicly available documents and interviews with the politicians and officials at the five merger cases of Estonian LG units. The data are interpreted and analysed using attribution theory.

The results show that amalgamation patterns do have an influence on PI use – in particular, the authors see that PI is reported to be used more frequently in cases of voluntary mergers, which may be related to the different motivations to make attributions in cases of voluntary and compulsory mergers.

The study contributes to the debate on the importance and usefulness of different types of PI, as financial as well as non-financial information and for different information users in the light of LG reform in Estonia as being a Central and Eastern European country.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the merger of two distinct higher education institutions. The change process was studied from the perspective of multiple stakeholders, and its major outcomes were evaluated in terms of various dimensions of success.

The study uses a qualitative research design. For the purpose of data collection, semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were used, targeting key decisions makers that led the change process. Additionally, university constituents, comprising students, faculty, and staff who were present during the merger, were invited to participate in an online survey.

Findings indicate that, although the merger deal appeared good on paper, it was not executed as well as it could have been, and the aftermath yielded lower than expected returns. The systems were not integrated properly, and cultural elements were overlooked, resulting in an anomic organizational environment, in place of what should have been a more cohesive academic community. The study establishes that institutions considering a merger should ensure that effective leadership is put in place to manage the implementation and that the cultures and identities are addressed and integrated as early as possible.

Although the findings of this study are limited to the case of one university, it forms an illustrative example for other institutions that are undergoing or considering major change. Recommendations are given to avoid the pitfalls of merger in areas such as integration, identity and, leadership.

Contemporary research establishes mergers as one of the most crucial change processes a university goes through. This study contributes to the literature by using a micro-level approach to study an institutional merger and targeting the perception of key university constituencies, thereby providing in-depth analysis and a multidimensional outlook.

Post-merger integration (PMI) success depends heavily on the social and cultural integration of the two legacy organizations. Given that organizational members work and exchange information through social relationships, social network analysis can serve as a useful tool to identify key actors, address areas of concern, and measure PMI success. However, few PMI studies have employed a social network perspective or social network analysis. In this chapter, the authors review the current literature on PMI and organizational change, including the few studies that use social networks approach. The authors also identify recent developments in social networks and organizational change research that can improve our understanding of PMI processes and propose promising avenues for future research. Further, the authors identify obstacles for social network research on PMI and provide practical advice for overcoming them.