Integrating Acquired Capabilities: When Structural Integration Is (Un)necessary

Phanish Puranam (), Harbir Singh () and Saikat Chaudhuri ()
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Phanish Puranam: London Business School, University of London, London NW1 4SA, United Kingdom
Harbir Singh: The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
Saikat Chaudhuri: The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

Organization Science, 2009, vol. 20, issue 2, 313-328

Abstract: Acquirers who buy small technology-based firms for their technological capabilities often discover that postmerger integration can destroy the very innovative capabilities that made the acquired organization attractive in the first place. Viewing structural integration as a mechanism to achieve coordination between acquirer and target organizations helps explain why structural integration may be necessary in technology acquisitions despite the costs of disruption this imposes, as well as the conditions under which it becomes less (or un-) necessary. We show that interdependence motivates structural integration but that preexisting common ground offers acquirers an alternate path to achieving coordination, which may be less disruptive than structural integration.

Keywords: postmerger integration; organization design; coordination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (91)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:20:y:2009:i:2:p:313-328

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