On Managing Cultural Intergration In Cross-border Acquistions From The Perspective Of China's It Industry

Globalization and the rapid development of China's economy ushered in a new era, an era when many companies in China now are actively engaged in cross-border acquisitions to expand their operations and increase their competitive advantage. Cross-border acquisitions, however, are still a new field. Despite their optimistic expectations, these cross-border acquisitions have typically failed to achieve the targeted results, partly due to the failure of culture integration.Based on the current status of the Chinese IT industry and the its industry characteristics, this thesis proposes a framework for managing cultural integration in cross-border acquisitions by exploring two cases: BenQ's acquisition of Mobile Devices from Siemens and Lenovo's acquisition of IBM's PC division.The thesis consists of six chapters: Chapter One provides information about the research background, significance of the study, and the structure of the thesis. Chapter Two examines the existing theories about culture, corporate culture, acquisitions, and the cultural integration model. Chapter Three illustrates the research method and case studies used in this thesis, offering information about the case study approach, data collection, data analysis, and criteria for case selections. Chapter Four gives an overview of the Chinese IT industry, including its current situation and recent cross-border acquisitions. Chapter Five points out the problems and proposes the framework for managing cultural integration by scrutinizing the two high-profile cross-border acquisitions that took place in IT industry. Chapter Six summarizes the main findings of this thesis, namely pointing out the directions for further research in the future.