Challenges of Project Management for the Integration of Organizations Into Mergers and Acquisitions Process

  Change Management   Governance   Work Breakdown Structures (WBS)   Knowledge Shelf  

There has been a recent wave of news on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) shown daily in the media—to such as extent, in fact, that they are no longer surprising, even when the mergers occur in the great numbers shown in Figure 1. However, these processes, which occur in almost all segments of the market, have caused profound changes in world business, in corporate governance, and in the lives of organizations’ employees. More recently, other great impacts on world business have included emergency acquisitions to save finance companies due to the economic crisis, destroying traditional brands and affecting the lives of thousands of employees of the corporations involved.

The biggest challenge of all of this movement has almost no visibility in the media, is not considered in the world business (as it is restricted to the inside of companies), and may extend for years after the toast to celebrate the conclusion of business: the projects of integrating the merged companies.

Some research on companies that went through M&A, conducted by Barros (2003) and Galpin (2000), shows that the success or failure of integration depends on particular processes, such as the strategy of M&A adopted, the planning of the program and its integration projects of the various areas of company, analysis of risks, policies of communication adopted, and, most …

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