The Role of Discourse in a Merger Process - A Case Study of a Finnish Company Merger
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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
School of Business |
Master's thesis
Author
Date
2018
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Management and International Business (MIB)
Language
en
Pages
68
Series
Abstract
In today’s competitive economy, many companies choose to start working together as one for a variety of reasons, including gaining competitive advantage or finding best practices together. However, despite the popularity of mergers, companies often find it difficult to work together as one. The role discourses and different discursive practices play in a merger process has been recognized, but still received very little academic attention. This thesis focuses on the role discourses play in justifying, analyzing and understanding mergers. In addition to looking at how the findings of the few previous studies apply in a case company, the thesis also aims to explore new areas and find where there is room for further research. The empirical evidence in this qualitative study was collected from interviews of people in managerial positions in a Finnish case company. This company had recently gone through a merger process, and the interviewees consisted of people from both pre-merger companies. The findings of the study are discussed in conjunction with existing literature. The findings affirm some of the scarce previous studies looking at the issue, such as the importance of merger justifications in forming the discursive framework for the whole merger process. In addition, differences between smaller context-specific discourses and the larger company-wide discourse may be a possible source for resistance. Seeing this resistance as a way for individuals to use their discursive power to express a desire for a different merger outcome can prove useful in understanding it. What’s more, the historical contexts of the merging companies influence the ways how some key words and discourses are understood, which can be a source of contention.Description
Thesis advisor
Gylfe, PhilipKeywords
discourse, discursive practices, merger, merger justification
