Cultural factors in M&A
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Do you think there are certain national/cultural factors that made companies more successful in M&As?
yes, culture influences how people behave and how people understand their own actions. there are several steps to addressing culture when two companies integrate such as making culture a major component of the change management work stream, identifying who “owns” corporate culture and having them report to senior management, considering the strengths of both existing cultures, not just the weaknesses, and etc.
I believe the issues of corporate culture supersede physical/location culture. My company in the US was acquired by a German MNE and the most difficult part of the integration has been technical specs. The people and processes were already fairly well aligned independently, so the integration has been fairly smoothly.
Hi! I wonder if what you mean by this question is whether some companies, all with a specific culture or nationality, has proved to be more successful at M&A – regardless of whether they are buying a company similar to themselves or not? I think we know that buying a company that is similar culturally increases the likelihood of it being a success. However, it would be interesting if there are any studies as to whether there are any types of cultures in a company that itself increases the likelihood of success. You are asking whether I think so, and I’m going to guess that corporate cultures that focus on teams rather than individuals, would be a strong indicator. The buying company need to be mindful of the targets culture, but at the same time be somewhat clear about direction.
Our culture is a significant factor in our communication style and our behaviors in public, as well as how we interpret these interactions from others. I think that in M&A’s that occur across national lines, this cannot be ignored and it must be a major component in post merger integration considerations. There must be an individual (or two) who is very familiar with both cultures and can communicate across potential boundaries in language and interpretations of behaviors/body language etc. when corporate culture is initiated so there is no question about who is in charge, but at the same time, individuals feel heard and understood to avoid discontent.
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