The contribution of intercultural management to the success of international mergers and acquisitions: An analysis of the EADS group

This article examines the contribution of intercultural management approaches to the success of mergers and acquisitions. The authors characterise international mergers and acquisitions as well as intercultural learning practices. They analyse the integration process of EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company), resulting from the merger of the French company Acrospatiale-Matra, the German company DASA and the Spanish company CASA by illustrating the impact of cultural differences on managerial situations. These situations may have both conflicting and complementary aspects, as it will be shown in the paper. Intercultural management approaches allow to overcome conflicts and thus contribute to the success of international mergers and acquisitions. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.