Post Merger Integration Leader and Acquisition Success: A Theoretical Model of Perceived Linkages to Success of Mergers and Acquisitions

It had become very clear that the post-merger integration process play an important role in realizing acquisition synergies identified at the outset of a merger thereby increasing the likelihood of merger success. While the general breadth of the topic post-merger integration is quite large, this study is focused more narrowly on the post-merger integration leadership. The extant literature of post-merger leadership identified a menu of leader competencies which were deemed important and were perceived to have a favorable influence on merger success. Leveraging on previous research, this study posited and tested a theory which examined whether or not a select set of post -merger integration (PMI) leader competencies positively influence merger success. The multiple case study based findings along with other potential explanations of the study outcomes are discussed. The findings also help the PMI leader selection process by delineating a set of empirically tested set of leader competencies which may result in influencing merger success.