Merger and Acquisition: the impact on organizational culture, creativity and product innovation : a case study

Sammanfattning: The most recent wave of Merger and Acquisition (M&A) sparked by the emergence of Internet and the growing importance of biotechnology, where firms use M&A to integrate innovation capabilities of smaller entrepreneurial firms. This strategy is commonly seen within the medical technology industry, where most research has shown that M&A often destroy those innovation capabilities that made the acquired firm attractive in the first place. This thesis investigates the organizational cultural changes due to an acquisition and its impact on the acquired firm’s creativity and product innovation. The research design of this essay is a qualitative case study based on interviews carried out at a medical technology company that was acquired in 2008. The results of this case study illustrated that the factors that affect creativity and product innovation in a post-acquisition are; communication, time, formalization, money, teamwork and risk-taking, where risk-taking affects product innovation the most.