Journal of Management Information System & E-commerce

In Mergers and Acquisitions—IT: Results of the Absence of CIO in Ex-ante Planning and the Absence of Key IT Staff in Ex-post Integration
Mohammad H. Al Suliman

Abstract
Recently, industries around the globe experienced corporate mergers. A direct correlation exists between early and frequent involvement of information technology (IT) in planning before the acquisition-negotiation (ex-ante planning) and IT integration success, and the success of the merger. However, researchers have offered a definitive answer to whether involving the chief information officer in ex-ante due-diligence planning leads to failure, or what would be the ultimate results for IT and the company. I conducted this research study in Saudi Arabia, although participating companies were primarily global in scope. Through the course of this research, conducted principally using interviews and surveys, I found that most companies that participated viewed IT as highly important and the majority included IT in due diligence. I also uncovered an unexpected result in that several organizations viewed IT as much more important after the integration than before. In addition, despite cuts in IT staff of merged entities, the majority of companies kept key IT staff through integration.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jmise.v2n2a1