Recasting the dynamics of post-acquisition integration: An embeddedness perspective

Abstract

M&A scholars have generally assumed that post-acquisition integration is a self-contained process. However this ignores that this process rarely unfolds as the only ongoing initiative in an organization. We contend that post-acquisition integration is not detached from other simultaneous change processes in the organizational context and this has important implications for our understanding of how integration dynamics actually evolve. To further understand this embeddedness we examine the unfolding of a post-acquisition integration process in a company faced with an unanticipated drop in demand due to the global economic crisis. Through a qualitative, longitudinal study conducted over three years, we carried out 151 interviews to uncover the unfolding of the post-acquisition process. We find that post-acquisition integration is embedded in a set of co-evolving processes. We highlight four mechanisms (coordination, cohesion, disconnection, alienation) that arise from the co-evolution of processes that either facilitate or impede integration. Our findings contribute to our understanding of postacquisition integration dynamics by recasting the integration process as embedded in a set of co-evolving processes that shape its unfolding.

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Playing a double game? Pursuing innovation through ambidexterity in an international acquisition program from the Arabian Gulf Region

“…Additional empirical research is needed to investigate how integration approaches change throughout an acquisition program depending on the characteristics of the acquiring and target firms and the strategic trajectory of the acquirer. We recommend benefiting from two distinct yet equally prominent approaches: first, drawing on the embeddedness perspective of the increasing variance of all resources and centrality of managerial resources in multiple acquisitions (Zorn et al, ); and second, acknowledging post‐acquisition integration as not entirely self‐contained but rather unfolding simultaneously with organizational change processes affecting both the evolution and outcomes of the integration dynamics (Rouzies et al, ).…”

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“…First, in acquisitions, synergy potential relates to increased competitiveness from integration between the involved firms, but anticipated synergies can disappear because of J o u r n a l o f S t r a t e g y a n d M a n a g e m e n t contextual change (Rouzies et al, 2018). Without adjustment, integration likely suffers for several reasons.…”