After more than four decades of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) experience in the Western business world most M&A still fail to deliver on their promise. The reasons – more often than not – lie in the social, psychological and cultural challenges of the post merger process. Why is it that corporations so often do not seem to get the grasp of this important and popular company strategy? And what is the part of the Chief Executive (CEO) in such projects?
In a seven-year empirical research project in Germany and Switzerland on CEOs in international post-merger situations, the author uncovered some of the powerful learning inhibitors these executives face in their complex and challenging global post-merger integration endeavours. She identifies three generic types of executive behavioural patterns, and proposes a taxonomy of leadership behaviours that seem particularly propitious to post-merger performance.
Seven impressionist tales of typical post-merger situations – a bank, an airline company, a car manufacturer, an IT company, an industrial conglomerate, a life sciences group and a large public event – are described and discussed in a first ethnographic research loop. In the second part of the study the actors themselves, 20 CEOs and top executives of global companies speak up and candidly share with the reader how they go about solving problems, how they struggle between art and science in their thought processes. Their rich insights are a valuable contribution to the academic and practical discussion of the Chief Executives’ role in the management of international combinations.
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