The contributions of this reader give an insight into the importance of the organizational and cultural aspects of cross-national mergers and acquisitions. Mergers and acquisitions are the predominant forms of internationalization, expansion, and growth. In the past, research on M&As focused on legal, financial, and economic aspects to determine the best "strategic fit" with optimal synergy effects. Yet a failure rate of roughly fifty per cent gave rise to an increasing awareness of organizational and cultural aspects of integration strategies, the importance of cultural factors for globalization: the "cultural fit". The reader, based on case studies of transnational companies, provides and overview of the different theoretical and methodological approaches and debates crucial issues of high significance for management students and managers alike.

"'Merging across Borders' offers insight into social, cultural, communicative and political dynamics in complex organizational change processes following mergers and acquisitions; dynamics which have often been neglected in previous research. The book is written by a Nordic research team, and it is based on their extensive field study of a series of cross-border mergers and acquisitions leading to the creation of Nordea, the largest Nordic financial services group today."