Contextualised view of knowledge transfer in mergers and acquisitions -A case study of knowledge intensive companies

Abstract

The knowledge industry's rapid increase in mergers and acquisitions has been a way of gaining knowledge, seen as increasingly important for gaining a competitive advantage, relatively fast. However, many companies are experiencing problems in reaching the anticipated synergies, which is often explained as a result of cultural clashes in the merger integration.

The aim of this thesis has been to, in a case study, investigate the relationships between motives, integration, and cultural issues, and the impact exerted on the transfer of knowledge in mergers and acquisitions.

Our main findings show that the reasons for merging generally have been based on the same motives, the need of new competencies, and new markets. However, the level and speed of integration have to a large extent differed. Could cultural differences explain why some companies have integrated more slowly? We believe to have seen tendencies that point to the notion that the meeting of two cultures, through the disturbance of cultural clashes, could have a relatively substantial influence on the level and speed of integration.

The value of transferring knowledge in mergers and acquisitions was to a large extent related to its importance of realising the motives, confirmed in one of the cases. The remaining cases showed, however, that the cultures involved worked as a barrier for enabling the transfer of knowledge. Hence, transferring knowledge in mergers and acquisitions can become problematic, as people from distant cultural contexts have different ways of thinking, and communicating. We, therefore, realised that knowledge transfer cannot be seen as the transfer of a commodity, but as a mental learning process, dependent on the cultural context in which it is conducted.