Abstract:

Researchers have found that even international mergers are popular, they usually fail for their complexity (Weber at al., 2013). Complexity in merger occurs as different changes take place in the new organization to cope with diversified conditions and needs of the integrating partners. Recently few studies have tried with process perspective mainly by reflecting on pre- and post-merger stages to penetrate into merger integration without much success (Gomes et al., 2003; Wang et al., 2016).  We argue that focus on these vital stages is necessary but not enough to provide a total picture of the merger process. Stahl et al (2013), Hyder and Osarenkhoe (2017) claim that longitudinal research can be appropriate to capture the dynamism of speed and happenings in mergers from a sociocultural viewpoint. By using a longitudinal approach this study analyzes the establishment, development and consolidation of a cross-border merger between banks from four Nordic countries.