Chapter 10: Managing Cultural Integration in Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions

The multipolar configuration of the current economic context has led management scholars to reconsider the existing theoretical perspectives that explain drivers and effects of mergers and acquisitions (M&As).

The combination of structures, systems, processes and people imposed by M&A is a complex process that needs to be properly managed. This process can be divided into three phases of pre-combination, combination and post-combination. It evidences the dilemma of integrating two distinct firms and preserving their specific identities. In cross-border M&A, differences in organizational cultures increase the complexity of the integrative process and make it difficult for the companies that proceed to the merger to reach the preordained synergies, where the problem linked to the diversity of the national culture is added. A successful integration process allows to treat the elements of diversity as opportunities and not as obstacles.