Changes and challenges in internal communications in post-acquisition integration
Laamanen, Anniina (2011)
Laamanen, Anniina
Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu
2011
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2011060811403
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2011060811403
Tiivistelmä
Globalization has given a new character to business functions worldwide during the last few decades. Making it within one market is rarely enough nowadays; a company has to manage in cross-border markets as well in order to succeed in the corporate life. This sets very favorable circumstances for international corporate acquisitions. In my thesis I examine the post-acquisition integration process of a middle-sized Finnish office supply company and a multinational, market-leading American enterprise in the field of business.
An enterprise acquisition may well change the whole repertoire of functions of the target company; therefore it is justifiable to believe there would be changes in the internal communications as well. The purpose of the thesis was to examine the changes the international corporate acquisition has caused within internal communications and identify what are the challenges in the new communication environment from the target company’s point of view. This raises certain questions: How is the personnel adapting to these potential changes and challenges? How could the potential challenges be met? Since the acquisition in question was international, the studying of the state of the internal communications after the acquisition brought out also aspects of cultural differences and possible linguistic issues that I wanted to take into account.
To find answers to the questions introduced above, I conducted a qualitative research, interviewing 7 executives of the target company of the acquisition. In the thesis report, I present the research data in the light of the theoretical framework of the research, gathered both prior to the data collection and throughout the progression of the analysis of the research data. This theoretical framework consists mostly of literature and electronic articles on internal communications, internationalization and qualitative research and also previous researches on the subject. The main goal of this thesis was to find potential solutions for the possible challenges in the internal communications in this change situation, for this could be beneficial for the companies in question. The research results indicate that some changes in internal communications have indeed created challenges, which at worst have decreased the personnel’s efficiency at work. The potential solutions for meeting these challenges are suggestions from both the research participants and myself.
An enterprise acquisition may well change the whole repertoire of functions of the target company; therefore it is justifiable to believe there would be changes in the internal communications as well. The purpose of the thesis was to examine the changes the international corporate acquisition has caused within internal communications and identify what are the challenges in the new communication environment from the target company’s point of view. This raises certain questions: How is the personnel adapting to these potential changes and challenges? How could the potential challenges be met? Since the acquisition in question was international, the studying of the state of the internal communications after the acquisition brought out also aspects of cultural differences and possible linguistic issues that I wanted to take into account.
To find answers to the questions introduced above, I conducted a qualitative research, interviewing 7 executives of the target company of the acquisition. In the thesis report, I present the research data in the light of the theoretical framework of the research, gathered both prior to the data collection and throughout the progression of the analysis of the research data. This theoretical framework consists mostly of literature and electronic articles on internal communications, internationalization and qualitative research and also previous researches on the subject. The main goal of this thesis was to find potential solutions for the possible challenges in the internal communications in this change situation, for this could be beneficial for the companies in question. The research results indicate that some changes in internal communications have indeed created challenges, which at worst have decreased the personnel’s efficiency at work. The potential solutions for meeting these challenges are suggestions from both the research participants and myself.