Achieving Acculturation in Mergers and Acquisitions: An International Case Survey

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 social controls also indirectly influence acculturation by acting in concert with formal integrative efforts.