Organizational and Systems Factors Leading to Systems Integration Success after Merger and Acquisition

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are a common technique used by companies to grow and enter new markets. The success rate of these transactions continues to be less than desired. Information Systems (IS) have been proven to be a key component influencing the success of mergers. While numerous factors have been found to lead to systems integration success, the studies have not analyzed the fit that is required when two organizations and systems are joined. This research focuses on the match between organizational variables of competencies and processes of two merging companies, as well as the match between systems variables of capabilities and technology. The results of this study attempt to show which factors impact systems integration success. Utilizing secondary data sources, measures were gathered for US companies that have experienced M&A between 2008 and 2012. Data points at the time of merger were collected for both the target company and the acquirer, and then transformed into proxy measures for competencies, processes, capabilities, and technology. Each pair was regressed against the measure of systems integration success to measure fit and impact. With statistical outputs, the hypothesis related to technology was found to be partially supported. The study extends the current knowledge on factors impacting M&A success. Determining the most significant variables provides valuable insight to practitioners, as to what factors to focus on for successful integration