بررسی یکپارچگی سیستم اطلاعات در ادغام و اکتساب A review of information system integration in mergers and acquisitions

Introduction In 2016, 46,000 mergers and acquisitions (M&As) were recorded with a total value of more than US$3.7 trillion (Thomson Reuters, 2017). M&As are a source of great opportunity for a few companies, including Cisco, Cemex and Santander (Kanter et al., 2007; Busquets, 2015; Toppenberg et al., 2015), but are frequently challenging and problematic for the many. In practice, 60–70% of M&As in the private sector destroy rather than create financial value as measured by short-term performance, long-term performance and market value (see, for example, King et al., 2004). Stimulated by the growth in activity, M&As have become a subject of research in several academic fields. Haleblian et al. (2009) reviewed M&A research in the accounting, economics, finance, management and sociology literature from 1992 to 2007. They identified 864 articles that examine the challenges to successful M&As and recommend how to overcome those challenges. The research shows that M&As are multifaceted phenomena to which financial, strategic, managerial, sociological, organizational and psychological research contributes insights and normative recommendations. One critical factor not considered by Haleblian et al. (2009) is that businesses have become pervasively dependent on their information systems (IS). These now play a critical role in the realization of value in M&As. Sarrazin and West (2011) estimate that 45–60% of the expected benefits from M&As directly depend on IS integration (ISI). Similarly, a survey by Accenture reports that ISI is the second most important reason for M&A failures, causing billions of dollars in losses (Accenture, 2006). In response to these and other surveys, research on the role of ISI in M&As has increased, documenting an emerging understanding of ISI as a highly diverse challenge. Three cases illustrate this diversity. First, Yetton et al. (2013) explain why the Danish sugar producer, Danisco, had to halt its acquisition program after several years to consolidate its scattered IT infrastructure onto one standardized central IT platform that could support a growth-by-acquisition strategy in the area of food ingredients. The accumulated IT infrastructure, consisting of more than 150 different ERP systems that were loosely integrated with peer-to-peer interfaces and middleware, made continued growth slow and costly. The critical challenge for Danisco was to develop the capacity of the IT infrastructure to support growth. This took Danisco several years and could not have been financially justified by a single acquisition. Second, the Teaching Health Centre (THC) case (Vieru and Rivard, 2014) shows how people involved in ISI affect the outcome significantly. They interpret, object, politicize, discover and, in many other ways, shape the unfolding ISI, creating unintended work processes, structures and power relationships. The initial design for THC, a merger of three Canadian hospitals, was based on best practice, but the final configuration revealed a blend of industry standards and local premerger contingencies. Personnel at the different sites actively engaged in interpreting the new systems, shaping them to work within premerger working procedures, norms and cultures.