Cross-Cultural Mergers

Case Study # 102642

Business > International
Business > Management

This paper explores the elements involved in a successful merger between companies.

2,098 words () | 8 sources | MLA | 2007 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper examines culture influence as well as strategic management practices that are necessary in order to achieve a winning merger between companies. The paper looks at why cultures clash and explains the difference between high and low context cultures. The paper also discusses the need for a strong cross-cultural management that cultivates cultural intelligence and diversity awareness. The paper looks at the GLOBE project that tries to predict, understand and describe the impact of culture and leadership across the world through particular cultural variables. Finally, the paper utilizes the case of Alcatel-Lucent, a telecommunications company that merged out of two companies, Alcatel and Lucent Technologies, in 2006. The paper shows how they succeeded in merging two separate cross cultural companies into one single successful French-American company.

From the Paper:

"A merger can be defined as two companies that combine to form one single company to reach lower costs and higher productivity. A merger may be sought by companies for a number of different reasons. Companies may want to increase their market share by merging with their major competitors to dominate the market. Companies may also want to merge with each other to create different or complimentary products (Beck 1)."

Sample of Sources Used:

"About Us". Alcatel-Lucent. 11-22-2007 <www.Alcatel-Lucent.com>.
Beck, Ryan. "Investment Glossary". Ryan Beck & Co.. 11-22-07<http://www.rbeck.com/ryan_beck3/invest_glosry_MbMs.htm>.
Grubb, Thomas. Capitalize on Merger Chaos: Six Ways to Profit from Your Competitors.New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.
"History". Project GLOBE. 11-22-2007<http://www.thunderbird.edu/wwwfiles/ms/globe/>.
Kreitner, Robert. Kinicki, Angelo. Organizational Behavior. New York: McGrahill-Irwin,2007.