Management Papers
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
3-2009
Publication Source
Organization Science
Volume
20
Issue
2
Start Page
313
Last Page
328
DOI
10.1287/orsc.1090.0422
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
Recommended Citation
Puranam, P., & Singh, H. (2009). Integrating Acquired Capabilities: When Structural Integration Is (Un)necessary. Organization Science, 20 (2), 313-328. http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1090.0422
Date Posted: 27 November 2017
This document has been peer reviewed.