Under Pressure - Tensions in the acquiring firms' corporate brand identity

Thesis Purpose: The purpose is to explore post-acquisition tensions in a B2B firm's corporate brand identity to better understand why tensions emerge, what effect those tensions have, and lastly, how these tensions may be dealt with, if at all. Methodology: A qualitative multiple case study based on four companies with a constructionist and inductive approach has been executed in this thesis. Grounded analysis and within- and cross-case analysis was used to analyze the data and derive the final framework. Symbolic interactionism served as an inspiration throughout the analysis of the phenomenon. Theoretical Perspective: The fields of mergers and acquisitions, corporate branding (with a special focus on corporate brand identity) and integration and transformation act as the three theoretical domains in which our research is positioned. On this basis it is our aim to further develop theory and establish a new conceptual framework using symbolic interactionism. Empirical Data: The empirical data consists of eight semi-structured interviews with employees ranging from directors to engineers, as well as secondary data including company presentations, annual reports, press releases and websites. The selected case companies represent four B2B companies from four different industries involved in numerous acquisitions; Fendt (Agricultural Machinery), Kingspan Group (Construction), Trelleborg AB (Polymer) and Getinge AB (MedTech). Findings/Conclusions: The five elements of tensions consist of; (1)‘changing and stretching of internal brand identity’, (2)‘changing and stretching of external brand identity’, (3)‘different ways of working, behaving and attitudes’, (4)‘ambiguous vision’ and (5)‘shift in brand prestige’. The framework bridges the three research fields and represents the scenarios tensions create and whether these tensions result in harmony or disharmony within the corporate brand identity. Practical Implications: The ‘Corporate Brand Identity Tensions Framework’ provides managers and academics with an analytical tool when assessing potential M&As. We suggest that the five elements of tensions are investigated as they can result in a change or continuity of the existing corporate brand identity. Furthermore, the CBI tension framework can help identify areas that may need special attention during the process of acquisitions