A Marriage of Cultures – A qualitative case study of cultural integration in the pre-stage of a merger

Sammanfattning: Aim: The aim of this thesis is to get a deeper understanding of cultural integration in the pre-stage of a merger process and by doing so also contribute to an understanding of merger outcomes. Research Question: How is cultural integration managed in the pre-merger stage and how is this perceived by employees? Methodology: Through an interpretative epistemological approach we developed a qualitative case study, where we simultaneously worked with theory and empirical material through an abductive approach. We collected our findings by performing document analysis, and by conducting semi-structured interviews with eight employees at our case company. Theoretical framework: In our theoretical framework we combine research regarding culture and organizational culture change together with research regarding culture in the context of mergers and specifically the cultural integration process. Contributions: From this study we can conclude that how the cultural integration process is facilitated for and managed in the pre-merger stage has significance for how the employees accept and understand the cultural integration. In addition we have with our study been able to contribute to the research field of mergers and acquisitions by presenting a case study were we can conclude that both the pre- and post-merger stage as well as both strategic management school and organizational behaviour school have an interconnected significance for the merger outcome.