The purpose with this paper is to highlight the comparative advantages of using case study resear... more The purpose with this paper is to highlight the comparative advantages of using case study research to contribute to the Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) field and provide some recommendations how this can be done well. Based on three reviews of the case study methodological literature, influential M&A case studies, and the methodological case survey of 55 M&A cases, we conclude that the case study method is a powerful, yet much underutilized method in M&A research. Even though there seem to be perhaps more than 20 times as many M&A surveys as case studies (Haleblian at al, 2009), we find that especially influential M&A case studies contribute unique value to M&A research in terms of the rich idiographic understanding of the complex combination and especially integration processes where the longitudinal, multi-aspect, and multi-level strengths of the case study method excel.
Mergers and acquisitions are complex events in organizational life for which we have incomplete u... more Mergers and acquisitions are complex events in organizational life for which we have incomplete understanding, in part because researchers have tended to consider only partial explanations of them. The authors addressed that problem by developing a conceptual framework that integrates theoretical perspectives from economics, finance, and especially strategy, organization theory, and human resource management to offer a broader process-oriented integrative model. The integrative model explicitly describes how synergy realization is a function of the similarity and complementarity of the two merging businesses (combination potential), the extent of interaction and coordination during the organizational integration process, and the lack of employee resistance to the combined entity. The approach differs from traditional methods of studying mergers and acquisitions in three ways: (1) the success of a merger or acquisition is gauged by the degree of synergy realization rather than more r...
Various explanations have been suggested concerning the causes of ‘cultural clashes’ and prescrip... more Various explanations have been suggested concerning the causes of ‘cultural clashes’ and prescriptions for harmoniously integrating the beliefs and values of merging firms. Using a form of meta-analysis known as a case survey design, which combines the ideographic richness of case studies with the statistical generalizability of larger samples, and a sample consisting of 50 mergers and acquisitions (23 US domestic, 15 Swedish domestic and 12 Swedish cross-border), we found that acculturation is best achieved when the buying firms rely on social controls. That is, by participating in such activities as introduction programs, training, cross-visits, retreats, celebrations and similar socialization rituals, employees will create, of their own volition, a joint organizational culture regardless of expectations of synergies, the relative organization size and differences in nationalities and cultures. A post hoc analysis of a proposed integration control typology further suggests that so...
PurposeThe purpose of the present paper is to offer a career concept and culture framework for me... more PurposeThe purpose of the present paper is to offer a career concept and culture framework for measuring and managing the alignment between people, strategy and culture and especially the motivational capital as the fit between people's motives and the organization's reward and appraisal systems.Design/methodology/approachA survey of 312 respondents in a multinational manufacturing firm using two questionnaires about their individual career concepts, motives, and their views about the organizational strategy and culture.FindingsThe results suggest that the career‐ and culture‐based motivational capital is positively associated with how effective the people view the strategy, how well‐functioning the structure is experienced, how relevant the performance appraisal is considered, how satisfied the people feel, and how long they stay in the organization.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should add more multi‐item‐dependent variables, use more translated questionn...
Drawing on the organizational trust literature and research on postmerger integration, the author... more Drawing on the organizational trust literature and research on postmerger integration, the authors develop a model that conceptually synthesizes the antecedents and consequences of trust in acquired organizations. The model proposes that the acquiring and target firms' relationship history, the interfirm distance, and the acquirer's integration approach will affect target firm member trust in the acquiring firm's management. Target firm member trust, in turn, may influence several sociocultural integration outcomes as well as postacquisition performance. The results of a case survey suggest that certain aspects of the relationship history and interfirm distance, such as the firms' collaboration history and preacquisition performance differences, are poor predictors of trust, whereas integration process variables, such as speed of integration, communication quality, and acquirer multiculturalism are major factors influencing trust. The implications for postmerger inte...
The purpose with this paper is to highlight the comparative advantages of using case study resear... more The purpose with this paper is to highlight the comparative advantages of using case study research to contribute to the Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) field and provide some recommendations how this can be done well. Based on three reviews of the case study methodological literature, influential M&A case studies, and the methodological case survey of 55 M&A cases, we conclude that the case study method is a powerful, yet much underutilized method in M&A research. Even though there seem to be perhaps more than 20 times as many M&A surveys as case studies (Haleblian at al, 2009), we find that especially influential M&A case studies contribute unique value to M&A research in terms of the rich idiographic understanding of the complex combination and especially integration processes where the longitudinal, multi-aspect, and multi-level strengths of the case study method excel.
Mergers and acquisitions are complex events in organizational life for which we have incomplete u... more Mergers and acquisitions are complex events in organizational life for which we have incomplete understanding, in part because researchers have tended to consider only partial explanations of them. The authors addressed that problem by developing a conceptual framework that integrates theoretical perspectives from economics, finance, and especially strategy, organization theory, and human resource management to offer a broader process-oriented integrative model. The integrative model explicitly describes how synergy realization is a function of the similarity and complementarity of the two merging businesses (combination potential), the extent of interaction and coordination during the organizational integration process, and the lack of employee resistance to the combined entity. The approach differs from traditional methods of studying mergers and acquisitions in three ways: (1) the success of a merger or acquisition is gauged by the degree of synergy realization rather than more r...
Various explanations have been suggested concerning the causes of ‘cultural clashes’ and prescrip... more Various explanations have been suggested concerning the causes of ‘cultural clashes’ and prescriptions for harmoniously integrating the beliefs and values of merging firms. Using a form of meta-analysis known as a case survey design, which combines the ideographic richness of case studies with the statistical generalizability of larger samples, and a sample consisting of 50 mergers and acquisitions (23 US domestic, 15 Swedish domestic and 12 Swedish cross-border), we found that acculturation is best achieved when the buying firms rely on social controls. That is, by participating in such activities as introduction programs, training, cross-visits, retreats, celebrations and similar socialization rituals, employees will create, of their own volition, a joint organizational culture regardless of expectations of synergies, the relative organization size and differences in nationalities and cultures. A post hoc analysis of a proposed integration control typology further suggests that so...
PurposeThe purpose of the present paper is to offer a career concept and culture framework for me... more PurposeThe purpose of the present paper is to offer a career concept and culture framework for measuring and managing the alignment between people, strategy and culture and especially the motivational capital as the fit between people's motives and the organization's reward and appraisal systems.Design/methodology/approachA survey of 312 respondents in a multinational manufacturing firm using two questionnaires about their individual career concepts, motives, and their views about the organizational strategy and culture.FindingsThe results suggest that the career‐ and culture‐based motivational capital is positively associated with how effective the people view the strategy, how well‐functioning the structure is experienced, how relevant the performance appraisal is considered, how satisfied the people feel, and how long they stay in the organization.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should add more multi‐item‐dependent variables, use more translated questionn...
Drawing on the organizational trust literature and research on postmerger integration, the author... more Drawing on the organizational trust literature and research on postmerger integration, the authors develop a model that conceptually synthesizes the antecedents and consequences of trust in acquired organizations. The model proposes that the acquiring and target firms' relationship history, the interfirm distance, and the acquirer's integration approach will affect target firm member trust in the acquiring firm's management. Target firm member trust, in turn, may influence several sociocultural integration outcomes as well as postacquisition performance. The results of a case survey suggest that certain aspects of the relationship history and interfirm distance, such as the firms' collaboration history and preacquisition performance differences, are poor predictors of trust, whereas integration process variables, such as speed of integration, communication quality, and acquirer multiculturalism are major factors influencing trust. The implications for postmerger inte...
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Papers by Rikard Larsson