Merger and Innovation: The impact of the organizational merger on innovation project management
Davletyarov, Yedil (2021)
2021
Nordic Master's Programme in Innovative Governance and Public Management
Johtamisen ja talouden tiedekunta - Faculty of Management and Business
This publication is copyrighted. Only for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2021-06-23
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202106045666
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202106045666
Tiivistelmä
This Master’s Thesis aims for studying the effects of the merger on innovation project management within the public limited organization, located within the Finnish corporate sector.
The empirical findings of this qualitative case study research consist of 11 interviews, conducted with the senior, middle managers, and other employees (subordinates) that were directly involved in the three different case innovation projects’ management and development. The interview data is analyzed using theory-driven analysis, and the analytical framework is grounded on merger and innovation management, particularly innovation project management theories. The emphasis of the empirical data is on the study of the effects of the merger on the micro-level (from managers and other employees (subordinates) perspectives) on different forms of innovation projects and their management.
The results of the research reveal that different forms of innovation projects were impacted differently from both managers’ and other employees’ (subordinates) perspectives. However, the content of answers matched for the aspects where both managers and lead specialists saw the effect of the merger. The most common effects for all the innovation projects from two different perspectives have come to the requirements, organization, communication aspects of the innovation project management. This study also finds mostly neutral, negative and some positive effects of the merger on the impacted elements of the innovation project management. Research also indicates that other employees (subordinates) see more effects of the merger on the aspects of innovation project management than their managers which might rise the discussion of need in a more intense collaboration between managers and other employees (subordinates) regarding the management of the innovation projects.
The implications of the study are threefold: theoretical, practical, policy implications. (1) The research imposes a new direction of the study of the phenomenon in the literature - qualitative research study. This research contributes to the literature by showing that different forms of innovation projects have been influenced in different aspects of innovation project management which are not similar to each other. This confirms that each innovation project is unique and may have a different impact from the merger. (2) The study suggests that the merger integration plan should be also considered at the micro-level and have a consistent, well-thought message that will always be shared with the stakeholders, and that should be agreed upon in advance in order to avoid any frustration, uncertainty, loss of the spirit among employees, even fear inside organizations. The research suggests that senior managers of each business line inside the organization should also participate in building up the integration plan process. (3) The study recommends that the EU merger control authority should demand a proper integration plan comprising both the macro, meso and micro levels from the firms that are going to be united before authorizing them to merge if the basis for intervention is innovation analysis. The research findings enable re-reviewing of the merger policies to make them more effective and suggest that innovation analysis should be a frequently used element of the merger control practice as well.
Further research is needed on analyzing the effects of the merger on different forms of innovation projects from two perspectives: managers and other employees (subordinates) for more generalizable results. Future research could be done on the impact of the merger on innovation projects in the public sector. It will be interesting to compare the impact of the merger on innovation project management in public and private sectors to see their similarities and differences. What is the extent of the impact of the merger on public innovation project management compared to private innovation project management?
The empirical findings of this qualitative case study research consist of 11 interviews, conducted with the senior, middle managers, and other employees (subordinates) that were directly involved in the three different case innovation projects’ management and development. The interview data is analyzed using theory-driven analysis, and the analytical framework is grounded on merger and innovation management, particularly innovation project management theories. The emphasis of the empirical data is on the study of the effects of the merger on the micro-level (from managers and other employees (subordinates) perspectives) on different forms of innovation projects and their management.
The results of the research reveal that different forms of innovation projects were impacted differently from both managers’ and other employees’ (subordinates) perspectives. However, the content of answers matched for the aspects where both managers and lead specialists saw the effect of the merger. The most common effects for all the innovation projects from two different perspectives have come to the requirements, organization, communication aspects of the innovation project management. This study also finds mostly neutral, negative and some positive effects of the merger on the impacted elements of the innovation project management. Research also indicates that other employees (subordinates) see more effects of the merger on the aspects of innovation project management than their managers which might rise the discussion of need in a more intense collaboration between managers and other employees (subordinates) regarding the management of the innovation projects.
The implications of the study are threefold: theoretical, practical, policy implications. (1) The research imposes a new direction of the study of the phenomenon in the literature - qualitative research study. This research contributes to the literature by showing that different forms of innovation projects have been influenced in different aspects of innovation project management which are not similar to each other. This confirms that each innovation project is unique and may have a different impact from the merger. (2) The study suggests that the merger integration plan should be also considered at the micro-level and have a consistent, well-thought message that will always be shared with the stakeholders, and that should be agreed upon in advance in order to avoid any frustration, uncertainty, loss of the spirit among employees, even fear inside organizations. The research suggests that senior managers of each business line inside the organization should also participate in building up the integration plan process. (3) The study recommends that the EU merger control authority should demand a proper integration plan comprising both the macro, meso and micro levels from the firms that are going to be united before authorizing them to merge if the basis for intervention is innovation analysis. The research findings enable re-reviewing of the merger policies to make them more effective and suggest that innovation analysis should be a frequently used element of the merger control practice as well.
Further research is needed on analyzing the effects of the merger on different forms of innovation projects from two perspectives: managers and other employees (subordinates) for more generalizable results. Future research could be done on the impact of the merger on innovation projects in the public sector. It will be interesting to compare the impact of the merger on innovation project management in public and private sectors to see their similarities and differences. What is the extent of the impact of the merger on public innovation project management compared to private innovation project management?