مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

The typical effect of M&A activity on firm performance has been well documented and, on average, M&A activity does not lead to superior financial performance. In fact, a stronger argument can be made that M&A activity has a modest negative effect on the long-term financial performance of acquiring firms. (King, Dalton, Daily, & Covin, 2004, p. 198) Corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have been robust in industries such as transportation, energy, telecommunications, healthcare, information technology (IT), and particularly in banking (Baigorri, 2016). Yet, despite this drive for businesses to combine, research shows that 70%—۸۰% may fall short of the promoted financial returns and market shares (Klendauer & Deller, 2009), particularly in financial services (Amel, Barnes, Panetta, & Salleo, 2004; DeYoung, Evanoff, & Molyneux, 2009). For the past decade, there have been calls for more investigation into how the non-financial aspects of commercial mergers (i.e., human factors), including operations and line employees within the member firms, might play a critical role in merger success (Stahl et al., 2013).

This article extends this stream of thinking, focusing on how better employee and customer management can help reduce the M&A failure rate. We accomplish this via an in-depth case study of the ANZ New Zealand’s horizontal brand and technology merger with The National Bank of New Zealand Limited from 2010—۲۰۱۲٫ The event was an example of how mergers and consolidations should be executed and received international awards in finance, marketing, and corporate affairs. By examining how interdependent stakeholders, efficiencies, and marketing tasks were sequenced, we provide a framework of lessons to be applied generally to mergers. This case provides a compelling story of how leadership can intentionally integrate the ‘soft’ functions of organizational and human behavior, justice, sensemaking, marketing, and the pace of change with the ‘hard’ functions of finance, economics, strategy, branding, and information systems and IT. The ANZ merger also illuminates how firms can balance the need for speed in reducing costs and consolidating technology and operating systems, with the time-consuming–—yet ultimately profitable–—efforts needed to build employee and customer trust, procedural fairness, and a sense of justice for all involved.