GUEST EDITORS' NOTE:THE ROLE OF HR PRACTICES IN MANAGING CULTURE CLASH DURING THE POSTMERGER INTEGRATION PROCESS

摘要

The pervasiveness and growth of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity around the world, and the volume of capital involved, stand in sharp contrast to the high failure rate of M&As. In 2007, the volume of global M&A activity broke all records, and recent surveys reveal that despite the global financial market crisis, executives worldwide remain optimistic about their M&A plans (BCG, 2008; Deloitte, 2007). At the same time, managers of acquiring firms reported that only 56% of their acquisitions could be considered successful when measured against their original goals (Schoenberg, 2006). Studies indicate that on average M&As do not create value (King, Dalton, Daily, & Covin, 2004; Stahl & Voight, 2008). In short, at the premerger stage executives appear convinced that M&As are a promising route to corporate growth, even though the overall M&A success rate does not justify such optimism.