Leading Integration of Organizational Cultures Following an Equal Merger

Abstract: Mergers have become an increasingly important and interesting option for companies to expand. Research, however, shows that more than 50% of mergers fail. The reason for the high failure rate, according to many researchers, is that most mergers are too focused on business and financial conditions instead of the human factors. Executive Committees often do not put enough attention on core values, beliefs and attitudes. The purpose of this thesis is to gain a deeper understanding of the importance of the cultural integration process during a merger. A model has been constructed to explain the process of “leading the integration of organizational cultures”. With the empirical research based on a main case study and a complementary literature study, the aim is to see if the model can be applied to real corporate life. Our findings are that it is hard for the Executive Committees to focus on the cultural aspects to the extent that we argue is needed, but that mergers become more successful when cultural aspects are really taken into account.