Information System Purchase and Integration Contingencies When Companies Merge

Per Engelseth, Adam Sadowski, Artur Janusz and Fahad Awaleh
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Per Engelseth: Tromsø School of Business and Economics, Narvik Campus, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, 8514 Narvik, Norway
Adam Sadowski: Institute of Logistics and Informatics, University of Lodz, Rewolucji 1905 r. 37, 90-214 Lodz, Poland
Artur Janusz: Institute of Logistics and Informatics, University of Lodz, Rewolucji 1905 r. 37, 90-214 Lodz, Poland
Fahad Awaleh: Kristiania University College, Prinsens Gate 7-9, 0107 Oslo, Norway

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 15, 1-21

Abstract: This study grounds empirically the purchasing and further integration of an implemented information system set in the frenzied context of a corporate merger. A single longitudinal case study from the Norwegian pelagic seafood industry provides a detailed long-term account of developing the information system prior to, during and after a merger in the seafood industry that relies on wild catch. It is characterised by high dependence on features of nature and society to secure sustainable production. Contingency theory together with a process view of production reveals how interactions unfold over time to develop the new unified information system. Features of integration, interaction and interdependency represent different facets of information system purchase and development. The merger process represents an abnormality for the organisation as a continuous entity. Information system development in the case, therefore, takes place in a weakly integrated network of merging firms with severe time constraints. Given high uncertainty, solutions emerge through interaction. Deterministic optimisation is, in this context, a fluffy managerial dream. Normally, information system purchase and information system development involve reciprocal interdependencies involving mutual adjustments through intensive technologies and tight interaction among all parties involved. The coercive behaviour of management seeking efficiencies overrules these planning ideals. This indicates that purchasing, in a corporate merger context, is complex and approached as a complex system in a network. Solutions used in this approach originate because of emergent-networked interaction.

Keywords: corporate merger; information system development; interdependencies; collaboration; contingency theory; seafood industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:15:p:8223-:d:599847

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