Acquisitions, Organizational Culture and Performance: Empirical Evidence from Acquired Company in Serbia

Abstract

Research question: The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine the effects of acquisitions on organizational culture in terms of the degree of change in certain organizational culture dimensions, and second, to examine effects of organizational culture differences on the acquired company’s performance. Motivation: Although many studies have examined the relationships among acquisitions, organizational culture and performance, especially the relationship between organizational culture differences and company performance in developed economies (Chatterjee et al., 1992; Weber & Camerer, 2003; Krishnan et al., 1997), little attention has been paid to the research into these relationships in the emerging economies. Understanding the cultural issues in the context of acquisition in the emerging economy will contribute to the literature and enable comparison of research results with results obtained in developed economies. Idea: The core idea of this paper was to empirically evaluate the relationship among acquisitions, organizational culture and performance on the example of an acquired company in the Republic of Serbia, as the emerging economy. The paper focuses on exploring the employees' perceptions of organizational culture change in the period after the acquisition, as well as managers’ perceptions of the acquired company’s performance. Data: The survey was conducted in the company operating in the Republic of Serbia which was the subject of cross-border acquisition. The sample consists of 344 respondents (managers and employees) from the acquired company. Tools: Descriptive statistical analysis, Mann-Whitney U-test and regression analysis were applied in the study. Findings: The results of the research demonstrate that innovation as a dimension of organizational culture has changed to a greatest extent. Further, the results show that there are no statistically significant differences in the ways of how managers and employees perceive changes in organizational culture. Additionally, the results of the research show that organizational cultural differences have a positive influence on performance of the acquired company. Contribution: This paper contributes to a better understanding of the significance of organizational culture changes in an acquired company in the emerging economy and formulates practical suggestions for the managers in future acquisitions.