Joining Forces: Making One Plus One Equal Three in Mergers, Acquisitions, and Alliances

Chapter VIII. Easing the Clash of Cultures

Scholars, businesspeople, and M&A specialists know that culture matters in M&A success. We've noted that managing cultural integration has historically been a low priority for executives consumed with the financial, strategic, and operational aspects of integration. Yet, with 20/20 hindsight, most acknowledge that underestimating the importance and difficulty of combining cultures was a major oversight in their integration efforts. In this chapter, we highlight why cultures clash and how the conflict unfolds in combinations. We then address best practices in easing the clash of cultures between firms.

Culture in Combinations

Culture encompasses the way things get done in an organization. Typically, corporate ...