Case: ‘How not to integrate…..’
A couple of months ago 2 Nordic companies merged or better: one took over the other. Both of them being important players in their global industry. By buying the somewhat smaller company the over taker hoped to achieve positive synergy effects on, a.o.: R&D, production, marketing, sales. (What over taker doesn’t?) Merging 2 companies or putting 2, or more, companies together is, in some ways, ‘relatively easy’. Be it from opting for one website, one logo, standard procedures etc. to adding all up the numbers in the different balance sheets. The Biggest Management Challenge For Far in these cases, however, is ‘merging’ the teams of the companies involved. In previous situations, in another era, in other circumstances and in other industries, more than once managers have failed in succeeding to team up their new company. Also in this case it appears that the newly appointed managers have failed in merging their team, at least they failed at their first attempt.