Discussion: View Thread

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to join us in Lisbon next summer for sharing your ideas and research findings on the sociocultural dynamics in alliances, mergers and acquisitions. If you are interested in the cultural and people issues involved in the management of alliances, mergers and acquisitions, please consider submitting your work for presentation at the EGOS 2010 Colloquium.

The deadline for submission of short papers (of up to 3000 words) is January 10, 2010. Once accepted, the full paper is to be submitted by May 31, 2010. For more detailed information visit the EGOS website http://www.egosnet.org/

We look forward to seeing you in Lisbon next summer.

Best regards,

Günter, Yaakov and Philippe

26th EGOS Colloquium, July 1–3, 2010

Lisbon, Portugal

Sub-theme #15

Leveraging the Sociocultural Dynamics in Alliances,
Mergers and Acquisitions

Convenors:

Günter K. Stahl, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria, and
INSEAD, France and Singapore, guenter.stahl@wu.ac.at

Yaakov Weber, College of Management at Rishon Lezion, Israel, yweber@bezeqint.net

Philippe Very, EDHEC Business School, France, philippe.very@edhec.edu

Call for Papers

For the past two decades, there has been a growing body of research on the variables and proc­esses that affect the success of mergers and acquisitions [M&A]. However, the key factors for success and the reasons why M&A often fail remain poorly understood. King, Dalton, Daily and Covin (2004), on the basis of a meta-analysis of M&A performance research, conclude that "despite decades of research, what impacts the financial performance of firms engaging in M&A activity remains largely unexplained" (p. 198).

While theoretical frameworks for explaining the success and failure of M&A have traditionally focused on financial and strategic factors, research into the organizational and human resources implications of M&A has increased in prominence in recent years. An emergent and growing field of inquiry has been directed at the cultural dynamics of M&A (Cartwright & Schoenberg, 2006) and sought to explain M&A performance and underperformance in terms of the impact that "cul­tural distance" (Morosini, Shane & Singh, 1998), "culture compatibility" (Very, Lubatkin, Calori & Veiga, 1997), "cultural fit" (Weber, Shenkar & Raveh, 1996) or "management style similarity" (Larsson & Finkelstein, 1999) have on the integration process. Other studies have focused more broadly on the processes of "human" integration (Birkinshaw, Bresman & Håkanson, 2000) or "sociocultural" integration (Björkman, Stahl & Vaara, 2007) as determinants of M&A success.

Despite these advances, important research gaps and paradoxes remain. For example, there is little theoretical clarity regarding the role of culture in M&A, and the growing body of empirical research on the relationship between cultural distance and M&A performance has yielded contra­dictory results (Teerikangas & Very, 2006; Stahl & Voigt, 2008; Weber & Drori, 2008). Several other, unresolved questions and paradoxes exist in M&A integration research, including the role of power differences (are asymmetrical power relations always bad?), the role of acquisition experience (is there a significant learning effect?), and the relationship between integration speed and outcomes (does a high speed of integration lead to better outcomes?). Collectively, the evidence suggests that the relationship between these antecedent variables and M&A outcomes is complex; and that our current understanding of the sociocultural dynamics of M&A is limited.

The purpose of this sub-theme is to stimulate discussion of a wide range of issues related to the process of sociocultural integration in M&A. We encourage both conceptual and empirical contri­butions that may address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• What insights can perspectives from strategy, organizational behavior, international man­agement, psychology, sociology, anthropology and other disciplines contribute to our understanding of the sociocultural dynamics of M&A?
• The temporal dimension of the post-merger integration process. What are the critical stages in the integration process? How do the sociocultural and task integration proc­esses interact and combine to facilitate the realization of synergies?
• Variables that affect the success of the capability transfer, resource sharing, and learn­ing. For instance, what is the role of culture learning in the effective transfer of knowledge in M&A?
• The dynamics of cross-border vs domestic M&A. Do differences at the national and organ­izational levels affect M&A outcomes in different ways?
• Antecedents and consequences of trust in M&A. How is trust incrementally built and sus­tained over time? What is the role of trust repair in restoring damaged relationships?
• The role of acquisition experience. How do organizations learn from past M&A activities in order to improve their management of and success with future M&A? How can compa­nies institutionalize the lessons learned from past experiences?
• The role of human resource management. What are the roles of communication, training, staffing, etc., during the pre- and post-merger periods? What are the best practices to deal with HR challenges (e.g., stress, negative attitudes, turnover)?
• Identity building and organization development. How do merging organizations create a new identity and a common culture that enhances the organization's performance?
• The role of leadership and its effect on M&A performance. What constitutes M&A leader­ship and what are key attributes of effective leadership that are especially applicable to different M&A circumstances? How do integration managers add value to the process and what specific skills and experiences do they need to have? And what is the role of "hubris" or "CEO ego" in distorting appropriate M&A practice?

Opening the black box of integration will require the incorporation of multidisciplinary and multi-level models and analyses. Therefore, this sub-theme also aims to explore how underlying con­cepts and methodologies can make an important contribution towards understanding the M&A integration process and its relationship with performance. Papers on strategic alliances and other forms of interorganizational relationships are also welcome if they shed new light on the sociocultural dynamics of these ventures.

Any inquiry concerning sub-theme #15 should be directed to Dr. Shlomo Tarba at tarba2003@gmail.com

The deadline for submission of short papers is January 10, 2010. Short papers should not exceed 3,000 words and be submitted as a .pdf file, although .rtf and .doc files will also be accepted (please do not upload .txt or .docx files). Short papers should explain the purpose of the paper, theoretical background, the research gap that is addressed, the approach taken, the methods of analysis (in empirical papers), main findings, and contributions. In addition, it is useful to clearly indicate how the paper links with the sub-theme. Once accepted, the full paper is to be submit­ted by May 31, 2010. For more detailed information visit the EGOS website http://www.egosnet.org/

Günter K. Stahl is professor of international management at WU Vienna, and associate professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD. His research focuses on the link between strategy and HR management, the dynamics of trust within and between organizations, and sociocultural proc­esses in teams, alliances, mergers and acquisitions. He is the co-editor of "Mergers and Acquisi­tions: Managing Culture and Human Resources" (Stanford University Press, 2005), a unique collaboration between leading M&A researchers and executives.

Yaakov Weber is the President of EuroMed Academy of Business and Chair of the Department of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, College of Management, Israel. His research focuses on M&A integration process. He is the author of numerous academic articles that are widely cited. Prof. Weber is currently the Guest Editor of two special issues on M&A.

Philippe Very is professor of strategic management at EDHEC Business School, France. He is the author of numerous academic articles and of four books. He is currently developing research projects about two themes: the management of cross-border M&A, and the management of criminal risks. He is the 2008–2009 President of AIMS, the French-speaking Academy of Management.