Corporate social responsibility and organizational culture in corporate restructuring : the case of an insurance sector acquisition

Sammanfattning: Companies are challenged today due to global turmoil related to economic and social upheaval. Therefore, companies are continuously looking for ways to differentiate and enforce their position in the markets in relation to competitors. Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) provide good solutions for companies to increase in size and pursue growth relatively fast. Since the financial crisis, year 2014 was a big year of M&As (www, PBS, 2015). Among others, transactions between Facebook and Whatsapp and Microsoft and Nokia Corporation’s devices and services business unit have been greatly discussed. While companies are aggressively building their growth strategies, sustainability and responsibility issues are receiving increasing attention (Malik, 2014). Consequently, corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be recognized as an inescapable priority for today’s companies (Porter & Kramer, 2006). Regardless of the fact that mergers and acquisitions are regarded as good solutions for companies in reaching compeititive advantage and increasing in size, they have relatively high chances of failing. Orgnizational culture has been identified as key factor in enhacing the integration of two companies. All too often the cultural dimension is disregarded during the intergration and attention is directed towards financial issues. Organizational culture is also interconnected to the company’s proclivity towards CSR as organizational culture reflects the personality or the feel of the company through values, beliefs and assumptions. These define the proclivity and ability of a company to conduct business either responsibly or irresponsibly (Galbreath, 2010). Therefore, the aim of this study is to find out how the M&A process impacts CSR through organizational culture. The aim is approached from an acquisition perspective. More specifically the study pursues to find out how organizational culture is considered in the M&A process, how organizational culture has transformed as a result of the M&A transaction and, lastly, how CSR has transformed as a consequence of the M&A. To reach the aim and answers the research questions this study utilized a qualitative case study. An insurance sector acquisition in the Finnsh context was examined. Semi-structured interviews were utilized to collect primary data from eight employees connected to the acquisition in question. The empirical case study demonstrates that the companies in the different parties of the acquisition demonstrate different kind of cultures and organizational characteristics but also share significant similarities in terms of size and industry. Consequently, the major conclusions are that organizational culture was considered in the acquisition in a very one-sided manner. Furhtermore, organizational culture did not transform or change permanently as a result of the acquisition. Finally, the study indicates that the CSR practises of the acquirer did not transform due to the acquisition. This study adds to the research field and gives ground for further research as no similar studies could be found.