J. Birkinshaw et al., Managing the post-acquisition integration process: How the human integration and task integration processes interact to foster value creation, J MANAG STU, 37(3), 2000, pp. 395-425
The paper reports a study of the post-acquisition integration process in th
ree foreign acquisitions made by Swedish multinationals. Detailed interview
data and questionnaire responses in both acquiring and acquired firms are
presented. The sub-processes of task integration. and human integration are
separated out and it is shown that effective integration in these cases wa
s achieved through a two-phase process. In phase one, task integration led
to a satisficing solution that limited the interaction between acquired and
acquiring units, while human integration proceeded smoothly and led to cul
tural convergence and mutual respect. In phase two, there was renewed task
integration built on the success of the human integration that had been ach
ieved, which led to much greater interdependencies between acquired and acq
uiring units.