AUTHOR
Grankvist, Anna; Kollberg, Carolina; Persson, Anna

DEPARTMENT
Business Administration and Social Sciences / Industrial marketing and e-commerce

SUMMARY
The conducting of mergers has become an increasingly popular option for organizational expansion and growth. However, despite their popularity, less than 20 percent of these alliances reach their anticipated purpose. The main reason behind the failures is managers’ neglect to consider human and cultural factors during the implementation phase. The purpose of this thesis is to gain a deeper understanding of the issues involved in implementing organizational culture following a merger. For this study, four interviews and complementary documentation have been utilized. Our findings indicate that in order to succeed, leadership styles and communication strategies need to be integrated and adapted to suit the new organization. Employees are likely to react with initial resistance toward the merger, but depending on the extent to which they are affected, and how much information they gain, the resistance can be reduced. Several factors are significant for cultural integration, such as uniting the senior management, formulating a common vision, building trust, and providing as much information as possible.

ISSN 1404-5508 / ISRN LTU-SHU-EX--05/018--SE / NR 2005:018