Pre-acquisition planning in mergers & acquisitions - The Fazer-Lantmännen Färskbröd Case

Background and problem: The high failure rate in mergers & acquisitions presented in previous research points to the fact that a majority of the M&A activities do not seem to achieve the potential synergies expected. In an acquisition process, the pre-acquisition planning plays a part in the outcome in defining the potential synergies. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the importance of the pre-acquisition planning process by studying how this potentially affects the key factors for the success of an acquisition. Method: The thesis is a case study of one acquisition process. The approach is an explorative study where the empirical data has been gathered by qualitative interviews. Results and conclusions: There is a connection between extensive pre-acquisition planning and post-acquisition performance in the investigated case. The pre-acquisition planning can be linked to the key factors of the success in the integration process. Information & communication, the creation of a culture and the speed of the integrations are all factors affected by the quality of the pre-acquisition planning. Suggestions for further research: To follow up this thesis by conducting a study on several organizations to increase the validity of the results. Further it would be interesting to assess the importance of the factor external communication for the success of the acquisition