Merger literature suggests that the relationship between shareholder gains and the relatedness of merging firms is contingent upon the compatibility of the two firms' top management cultures. This hypothesis is tested by surveying the perceptions of cultural differences of top management teams of recently acquired firms, and then relating these perceptions to related stock market gains to the buying firms. The findings suggest a strong inverse relationship between perceptions of cultural differences and shareholder gains, after controlling for perceptions of the buying firm's tolerance for multiculturalism and the relative size of the merging firms.

While cultural fit has been acknowledged to be a potentially important factor in mergers and acquisitions, the concept has been ill-defined, with no distinction drawn between the national and corporate levels of culture. By examining both international and domestic mergers, the present study assesses the relative role of national and corporate cultural fit in predicting effective integration between merger partners. The innovative, nonparametric co-plot method is introduced, and its main advantage---the simultaneous consideration of both variables and observations---is utilized to explore cultural fit in the two groups of mergers. The findings confirm that national and corporate culture are separate constructs with variable attitudinal and behavioral correlates.co-plot, graphic display, corporate cultural, national culture, international and domestics mergers and acquisitions, top management behavior

While cultural fit has been acknowledged to be a potentially important factor in mergers and acquisitions, the concept has been ill-defined. Hence, its relationships to other human aspects in mergers have not been rigorously examined. Further, the relationships between cultural differences and other human factors to the effectiveness of the integration process and financial performance have not been subject to rigorous research that use relatively large samples of mergers and acquisitions. The present study assesses the role of corporate cultural fit, autonomy removal, and commitment of managers to the merger in predicting effective integration between merger partners in different industry sectors. The relationships between, and role of, these variables are found to be complex; they vary across industries and have different relationships with different measures of performance.

The mergers and acquisitions (M&A) literature is vast, spanning over half a century of research endeavor and drawing upon multiple disciplinary perspectives. Despite this wealth of material, the fi eld suffers from a lack of connectedness. There is limited and compartmentalized understanding of the complexities of the M&A process, as the various streams of M&A research are only marginally

I n a chaotic environment in which markets emerge, collide, split, evolve, and die, one of the primary determinants of a firm's success is strategic agility, the ability to remain flexible in facing new developments, to continuously adjust the company's strategic direction, and to develop innovative ways to create value. The competitive landscape has been shifting in recent years more than ever. Globalization, rapid technological change, codification of knowledge, the internet, talent and employee mobility, increased rates of knowledge transfer, imitation, changes in customer tastes, and the obsolescence of products and business models have all caused a turbulent environment and accelerated changes and disruptions. These trends are expected to continue, producing ever more rapid and unpredictable changes. Current concepts such as sustained competitive advantage, resource-based view, and strategic planning have been deemed vague, tautological, and inadequate for companies to cope with the rate and complexity of environmental and market changes. 1 There are tensions between formal processes of strategic planning and opportunistic strategic agility. Strategic planning has been criticized for preparing plans for tomorrow based on yesterday's actions, concepts, and tools. Although strategic planning can help in specific situations, it usually creates an inertia that prevents fast adaptation when circumstances change or market discontinuities occur. There is an agreement on the importance of strategic agility in light of complex managerial challenges such as dynamic environment, globalization, accelerating rate of innovation, and mergers and acquisitions (as mentioned by Jack Welch). 2 Strategic agility requires inventing new business models and new categories rather than rearranging old products and categories. To cope with growing strategic discontinuities and disruptions, scholars have suggested the creation of strategically agile companies, including new ways for managing business transformation and