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Exercises in the Strategy of Post-Merger...

Bruner, Robert F.,...

Case

Exercises in the Strategy of Post-Merger Integration

Bruner, Robert F.; Rynbrandt, Chad

F-1303 | Published October 27, 2000 | 7 pages Case

Collection: Darden School of Business

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This case recounts the announced terms of five prominent acquisitions of the late 1990s, and asks the student to suggest a preliminary strategy for integrating the target firm into the buyer. The five acquisitions are America Online/Time Warner, British Petroleum/Amoco, Daimler-Benz/Chrysler, Union Pacific/Southern Pacific, and Warner-Lambert/Agouron Pharmaceuticals. The objectives of the case are: 1) to highlight the linkage of the post-merger integration approach with the strategic motives for the acquisition; 2) to consider the range of possible challenges to successful post-merger integration; 3) to explore the varieties of integration strategy, especially surrounding decisions about autonomy of the target company within the buyer, importance of interdependence between the buyer and target, and need for speed of integration.