Mergers and the Dynamics of Culture

Abstract

The introductory notes to culture in the previous chapter are perhaps longer and more detailed than usual. However, with such a slippery concept as ‘culture’, detail is important — as much for clarifying how the term is being used here as for benchmarking how other writers use the term. Certainly, when we dip into the merger literature, culture understanding can be — shall we say — somewhat elastic! Box 15.1 provides a not untypical example.

‘The cultures were very different. We had a HR director who set out to humanise the company — make it less oppressive, more like us. He damn near destroyed the business.’

(Managing Director, manufacturing)