Dissertation Title

Mergers and Acquisitions in International businesses: An inquiry into the organisational culture and values in the UK Fashion Industry
By XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of

XXXXXXXXXXXX

At

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Date of Submission

August, 2011

Signed Statement
I declare that this dissertation has not already been accepted in substance for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. It is the result of my own independent research except where otherwise stated.

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Date: XXXXXXXXXXXX

Acknowledgement
Along with theoretical knowledge it is necessary for the student to possess the skill to apply it all practical situations. A students practical application of knowledge is put to test while preparing reports, for instance while preparing marketing report. One can tell from a marketing report, the status of a students calibre and his practical knowledge potential. In fact, the ability to apply your knowledge practically is your true capacity. Through this form of gratitude, I would like to thank each and every person that has in some way helped me during the course of my research endeavour. At the outset, I would like to thank my supervisor, XXXXXX, for his invaluable support and guidance right through my study. In fact, his guidance has helped me particularly while gathering literary evidences from various academic resources. Next, I wish to thank all the participants who have done their best and have been kind enough to spare some of their time for the interviews giving their valuable responses and opinions which have realised my research aims. I thank them for their patience and support. Lastly, I would like extend my gratitude to my family; friends and colleagues who have cooperated with me by allowing me to work at free will and leaving me alone at study table which has helped my thought process construct ideas during the course of the research. Without their support and cooperation this would not have been a reality. I feel I have not left out anyone that has been a contribution to my work in this note of gratitude, if so I would like to thank all of them with due gratitude to each of them who have been instrumental for this research project of mine. Once again, Thank You All. Yours,

xxxxxx
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Abstract
The main area of the dissertation was to investigate into the strategies of mergers and acquisitions in international businesses. The research also investigated into the role of organisation culture in global businesses. To focus on the area of the study the researcher has taken fashion industry in UK. This dissertation not only investigated, why and how firms attempt to expand the business internationally through mergers and acquisitions but also evaluated the impact of organisational culture and values in global context.

The study was conducted making a qualitative approach interpreting the data by adopting philosophy of interprevitism the samples numbering in50 were employed from the case study sounds of fashion industry; that was also the strategy off the research. The semi structured in depth interview was conducted adopting non- probability judgemental sampling. The data was analysed, deriving courser and themes as suggested by qualitative thematic analysis

The major finding of the research indicates that in UK, most of the fashion industry, were involved in mergers and acquisitions. It was also found that, the most important factor, while firms go international was to achieve cross culture and management integration. Managing cultural diversity was the prime threat after the process of merger and acquisition. In this context the study reported that the organisational culture plays an important role whilst aligning integration values; for which the management skills play an important role. Management integration in addressing cultural values demands both internal and external focus such as flexibility in advocacy as well as control over driving forces like, clan, adhocracy, hierarchy and market. Other findings also include the concept of globalisation inviting more mergers and acquisition recognising individual employees importance in emphasising on trust and integrity and valuing traditional systems as well as adhering to legal and political recognition; all these indicators were found to be playing an important role in internationalisation of business and valuing organisational culture.

Table of Contents
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESSES: AN INQUIRY INTO THE ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE AND VALUES IN THE UK FASHION INDUSTRY...........1 BY..............................................................................1 SIGNED STATEMENT....................................................2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...................................................3 ABSTRACT...................................................................4 TABLE OF CONTENTS...................................................5 LIST OF FIGURES.........................................................7 LIST OF TABLES...........................................................7 CHAPTER ONE.............................................................8 INTRODUCTION...........................................................8 CHAPTER TWO...........................................................16 LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................16 CHAPTER THREE........................................................41 INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...........41 CHAPTER FOUR.........................................................53 DATA FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.............................53 5

CHAPTER FIVE...........................................................69 CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND LIMITATIONS ........................................................................................69 REFERENCES.............................................................75

List of Figures
FIGURE 1: ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE AND COMPETING VALUE FRAMEWORKS........................................................38 FIGURE 2: SAUNDERS RESEARCH ONION.....................42

List of Tables
TABLE 1: LIST OF METHODS-PARADIGMS STUDIESPARADIGM ADOPTED.........................................................42 TABLE 2: DIFFERENT RESEARCH APPROACHES.............44 TABLE 3: RESEARCH STRATEGIES................................46

Chapter One
Introduction
The purpose of the dissertation is to investigate into culture and values that an organisation possess and need to possess in the context of international business. The focal idea behind the inquiry is the rapid growth of certain organisations after acquiring other business firms in the on-going globalisation of businesses. Because of the involvement of diversified cultural aspects prevalence in the context of global and international business more emphasis is being laid by organisations to gain values through the organisational culture. The focal idea behind emphasising on the fashion industry is because in the recent times it was found that most of the fashion brands in UK have been acquired by one single brand.

Many studies and researches have been categorically reporting the news of organisational mergers and acquisitions most often in the fashion industry of UK at the outset of the 20th century. However, not much attention was given to organisational culture and its role in the context of the on-going globalisation that is on increasing trend in the present century; which generally should have been the other way especially in the context of Globalization concept wherein a mixture of varied cultures is a common phenomenon.

With the stated insight gained from initial literature review this chapter as an introductory beginning initiates to initially mark out the scope of the study and states its aim to further derive a set of objectives to work on towards conceptual underpinning to poise a set of research questions to investigate into focal area of research and explore mergers and acquisitions in international businesses inquiring into the organisational culture and values in with UK Fashion Industry as a case. With these initial works the research furthers to lead the reader to the contents of the rest of the chapters of the dissertation after the contents of the introductory chapter are summarised.

1.1 Background and Scope

Mergers and acquisition activity was practiced by firms during both favourable economic conditions and adverse economic conditions. The activity was at its peak during 1990s especially during the middle of the decade. As a result there was immense economic growth and the M&A activity made a good contribution towards this economic growth. Evidence can be gathered from the results which showed a contribution of $4 trillion to world economy (2010) by mergers and acquisition activity. In fact, 40 per cent of the US economy ($ 10 trillion) came from mergers and acquisitions. The activity is still underway in the current ups and downs in the global economy. The organisations start acquiring other smaller firms or those having troubled growth, in a view to dominate the market as against their rivals. In the context of the fashion industry, the same trend is observed where dominant players continue to acquire weak players having troubled financial status. Be it the studies of Cox, (2001) or the more latest one of Pless and Maak, (2004) the concept of diversity management was indicated to have been of less use and in most of the cases tend to fail unless the organization is integration oriented with strong cultural background and respectable values towards their employees. However, a good cultural and diversity management strategy should necessarily incorporate the following elements together. The essential elements are integration values, organisational culture, and management competencies which together play a vital role in the context of international business. Cameron and Quinn (2006) furthers to state that there are seven integration values they being 1) Emotional Recognition; 2) Legal and Political Recognition; 3) Solidarity; 4) Reciprocal Understanding; 5) Standpoint Plurality; 6) Trust; and 7) Integrity. Each of the indicated integration values are evaluated with the four types of organizational culture, they being 1) Clan; 2) Adhocracy; 3) Market; and 4) Hierarchy.

The above discussion gives the reader an insight into the M&A activity as well as the nature of organisational culture and its value. Now, the research furthers to state its aims and objectives to further the study with conceptual underpinning to poise research questions.

1.2 Aim Objectives and Research Questions

1.2.1 Aim The focal aim of the proposed research is to investigate into growth of an organisation internationally through mergers and acquisition and investigate into the impact of culture and values of the organisation in internationalisation of business; with a special focus on UK Fashion Industry

1.2.2 Objectives
1. To investigate into the organisations attempt of internationalisation of business through mergers and acquisitions;

2. To investigate how most of the present day branded firms of the UK fashion industry merger and/or involved in acquisition in the process of international growth;

3. To evaluate the general impact of organisational cultural and values in international business and the fashion industry in particular.

1.2.3 Research Question 1. What is the general ideology and motive of organisations expanding their businesses through mergers and acquisition?

2. What role does the organisations culture and values play in its strategic growth process and how is it influenced in international business?

With the stated aims and objectives the research furthers to state and report the case study i.e. fashion industry in UK. The primary reason for investigation into fashion industry is because of the fact that the UK apparel industry has recorded a compound annual growth rate of 9.9% for the years 2010-2015 (Allison, 2011); as such an insight of UK fashion industry is gained here.

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1.3 UK Fashion Industry

The survey and study report of Allison, (2011) indicate that on the total, customers in UK expensed approximately $7.01bn, translating to 4.3bn pounds, in the year 2010, buying clothing goods online. The reports suggested that the trend has shifted from bricks and mortar shops to virtual online buying portals that traded clothing goods. Similarly a market survey report conducted by Mintel (2011) also replicated similar findings. The survey notified that approximately 34 per cent of customers bought online clothing goods, whose earlier percentage was 25 way back in 2009. The survey attributed the main reason for its findings being the increased number internet users and the improvement and increment of online buying portals by retailing firms. The stated report also predicted increase in sales to $7.83bn translating to 4.8bn pounds by 2011. The prediction claimed that the online sales would increase by approximately 11.6 per cent by 2011. Further, the survey went on to claim that the sales would reach $7.83bn translating to 4.8bn UK pounds by the end of 2015 accounting for an increment rate of 60.5 per cent with respect to 2010 and an overall growth rate of 9.9 per cent on annual basis during the period from 2010 to 2015.

Knight (2010) identified four prominent fashion brands in UK that dominated its fashion market. Over the past and extending in the current scenario these brands have been maintaining great brand loyalty among their customers. They were able to persuade even people who have been against buying their goods and have created a market of their own by trading latest trends in apparels. These prestigious brands are: 1) Burberry; 2) Ben Sherman; 3) FCUK; 4) London Fog; and 5) Dr. Martens. These sell fashion goods ranging from bags to footwear. These five brands have been so popular that they every British national, prefers them while purchasing some or the other fashion good. They have been promoting stylish attitude among Brits for generations, both among the old and the younger generations. An investigation into the stated brands has indicated that these top brands have expressed confidence in beating any newcomer or even foreign brands for that matter. Their strengths include customer loyalty via better customer care and the flexibility of their production of fashion goods in tune with the latest trends in fashion. 11

Their popularity does not confine to Britain alone; their brands are widely used in countries such as Scotland, Ireland and other parts of Europe and the world; as such these fashion brands have been considered as case study firms for the present research.

1.4 Introduction to case study firms

1.4.1 Burberry It is yet unknown as to what makes those checks so attractive! One cannot resist from buying at least one wear containing these checks. Burberrys checks redefine style and have won hearts and patrons the world over. Burberry has brand loyalty all over the world and sells goods ranging from perfumes and bags to various types of clothing including its famous overcoats. It is one of the must appear clothing goods in ones wardrobe.

1.4.2 Ben Sherman Ben Sherman is an exclusive brand for every Beatles fan. It is a special brand for the Brits, especially for those who love anything exclusively British. The Union Jack and fab four are the favourites for Ben Shermans customers. Ben Sherman fashion-ware is both stylish and comfortable. The fashion goods representing this brand are designed to serve various purposes and occasions, for movies and party outfits and the like. The fashion-ware is designed based upon contemporary style and has a colourful outlook.

1.4.3 French Connection United Kingdom (FCUK) This brand has become very popular amongst the youth and even the older generation. Its logo presenting the acronym stands mischievous and catchy and is prone for misinterpretation which is but the most likely tendency.

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Its clothing goods are both elegant and contemporary giving an energetic outlook and excitement to their bearers.

1.4.4 London Fog It is one of the famous London brands selling professional clothes apart from other fashion-ware. Its clothing goods have a prestigious outlook, for example, its T-shirts and shirts that have sharp collars and comfortable and fitting sizes.

1.4.5 Dr. Martens It is one of the most popular London brands selling footwear for all age groups and footwear of all kinds and fashion. The designs at Dr. Martens are both sturdy and stylish and stand apart with outstanding comfort and elegance.

1.5 Summary
Initiated with the focal aim to investigate in to the idea of Mergers and acquisitions in international businesses the introductory chapter has found that it was a common phenomenon in the UK fashion industry right from the beginning of 20th century. This trend further aggravated giving the first decade of the new millennium. The introductory chapter also discussed how Mergers and acquisitions would impact the organizational culture and values. There were many researches in the field of organizational cultures and values; mergers and acquisitions; and fashion industry, but never there was an attempt made to add up all the stated areas. With these rational the research identified that there was a good scope. Thus, this chapter duly recognizing the concepts of the stated areas of study built a rational to further add up to the core aims of the research along with its objectives and questions that are to be resolved, as an attempt to build a base for the research.

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1.6 Dissertation Structure

Chapter-two: The core aim of this chapter is to gather literary evidences within the chosen field of the research interest thereby establishing the need and basis for the aims of the study. Throughout the chapter academic support for the current study is obtained via referring academic resources in the related area. It is proven in this chapter whether the research claims are feasible or not, if the research claims have a basis and are required to be studied, then the reason in support of this is presented. In case, the research aims are baseless, the reasons for the same would also be presented in this chapter. Therefore, it will be clearly presented whether focal aims of the research are realised or not, the reasons for either of the consequences are thereby presented here. The importance of this chapter lies in its role in establishing the foundation for the study.

Chapter-three: Saunders et al., (2009) laid emphasis on the importance of choosing a suitable methodology to conduct the study; the scholar opined that the methodology chosen should be in line with requirements and the nature of the study. The gathering of literary devices is extended into this chapter further exploring into the study. Literary support is gathered to justify the chosen research strategy, the analytical tool utilised and the chosen approach to conduct the study. The logic behind the selection of each and every method for the conduct of the study is also presented alongside the choices. The methods so chosen are deemed fit by the researcher who bases his decision keeping in mind their suitability in the context of the study. Overall this chapter aims at building a conceptual framework for conducting the research.

Chapter-four: The researcher presents the data findings within the primary and secondary data, here in this chapter. Further, qualitative analysis is conducted and the analysis findings are also presented here. Using the Qualitative thematic analysis, the researcher derives themes and concepts within the data comparing the data findings with those within the previous academic resources. The current findings and the past findings are tabulated for relative comparison.

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The research questions are dealt with at this point and it is proven whether they are resolved or not, if they are resolved, logic for the same is presented and vice-versa. At the end of this chapter the reader has a clear opinion as to whether the research goals are reached at.

Chapter-five: The results are finalised after the analyses and are presented in this chapter. Various conclusions are made based on the findings using objective interpretations. The researcher makes final inferences and reflects upon the study via his personal experiences. Further, he goes on to make recommendations wherever he feels improvement can be made and presents the future scope for research in the current field.

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Chapter Two
Literature Review
Initiated with a purpose to investigate into culture and values that an organisation possess and need to possess in an internationalised business environment, the researcher in the previous chapter presented the focal idea behind the investigation stating the rapid growth of certain businesses through mergers and acquisitions; especially in the current scenario of internationalisation of business firms, where involving diversified cultural aspects was apparent and there was a need to inquire why organisations need to gain values through the organisational culture. The focal idea behind emphasising on the fashion industry was because in the recent times it was found that most of the fashion brands in UK were been under the umbrella of acquisition and mergers.

As already seen, the researcher had stated that the focal aim of the current study, i.e. to throw light on how an organisation is benefitted by the merger and acquisition activity and to examine the effects of organisational culture in the scenario of globalisation with specific concentration on the M&A activities within the fashion industry of UK. With this as the backdrop, the research went on to stat its objectives which were to explore in-depth into the merger and acquisition activity that is prompting an organisation to go global in its business operations. The study would revolve around the investigation into the M&A activity underway in most of the fashion firms in UK leading to globalisation of their businesses. How are the M&A activities helping these firms to grow? The question that comes into our mind is the stance of organisational culture in internationalisation of businesses; what are the issues propping out on the international stage? And what are effects of organisational culture on the multicultural personnel. The above situations will be evaluated in the context of the fashion industry in UK.

As indicated and discussed in the previous chapter, academic resources within the field of management and cultural diversity management have already made notable contribution on the M&A activity on the international scene and the aspects of 16

organisational culture coming into light in the internationalisation of business and the role of managements in organisations that have to deal with these aspects conditionally.

Therefore, keeping in mind the above discussion, the research has identified certain viewpoints, discussions and statements of various authors and academicians within the stated context. This will be the primary focus for the present chapter (table1).

Focus

Author

Dominant Contribution

Mergers and acquisitions

Focarelli and Pozzolo, 2008

Mergers and Acquisitions Achieving Successful Cross-

Internationalisation of business through mergers and acquisitions

Sharona Peng (2010)

Cultural and Management Integration: The Experience of Lenovo and IBM.

Erika and Alberto Impact of organisational culture in international business Berry, 1983; Pan, 2006 Major acquisition in UK fashion industry Sharona Peng (2010); Anon (2011) Cameron and Quinn, 2006 UK Office of the Statistics; case study company website In the studies of Erika and Alberto (2009) (2009) Managing Cultural Diversity: Integration Values and Management Skills

Conceptual Model

Competitive advantage as perceived earlier is more about making use of market deficiencies and dominating weak economies. However, with the advent of internationalisation of businesses, these traditional ways of market dominance no longer played the trick. Globalisation had led to unification of markets and economies.

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Therefore, as pointed out by Zhu and Huang (2007), the present day organisations are prompted to make use of the M&A activities to gain competitive advantage in markets.

With the stated insight the research furthers to initially investigate into the concept behind the M&A activity and as to why the majority of acquisitions in UK are taking place amongst its fashion firms, and to evaluate how organisations move ahead with internationalisation of business through the M&A activities and to examine the effect of an organisations culture in international business.

1.7 Mergers and acquisitions

Interestingly, the mergers and acquisitions occur both in good and bad economic conditions. When favourable economic conditions were prevalent during the mid 1990s and till late 1990s, considerable economic boost was supplied by mergers and acquisitions. Now, in the recent years of economic crises, there are mergers and acquisitions underway in many of the industrial business area. Basically, in view of gaining economic advantage, an organisation tries to benefit from consolidating one or more of its competitors over a period of time. For example, in the health sector, bigger hospitals are on continuous acquisition of smaller hospitals with the motive to prompt insurance companies to increment coverage payments to them.

Mergers and acquisitions are not limited to MNCs and organisations with huge capital values, even the SMEs can make use of mergers and acquisitions to attain superior status in the market. However, to acquire intellectual properties of other companies the financial resources are also the required credentials. As such the small and medium size firms can be benefitted on the other side of the M&A activity; i.e. they can claim huge capital benefits if they sell their intellectual properties. Moreover, the laws related to intellectual properties have also evolved. Capital benefits from mergers and acquisitions can be used to expand business operations, thus contributing to the growth of the SMEs. In fact, the Microsoft and Sun Microsystems have been acquiring many small companies of potential intellectual assets and are today some of the leading MNCs of the world. Of course, the Sun Microsystems has been acquired by Oracle recently. 18

Globalisation, as opined by scholars Mitchell (2000); Focarelli and Pozzolo (2008), has become a worldwide phenomenon and has opened the flood gates for international business. Organisations in every part of the world are thinking beyond national boundaries and it has become imperative for them to expand business internationally given the impact of globalisation. As a result of this internationalisation of business, the world is moving closer to becoming one single integrated economy. The above situations posed fresh challenges for all kinds of organisations both smaller and bigger ones; you either choose international business or perish. Therefore, the organisations those are unable to look beyond national boundaries with the philosophy of "domestic-business-only" are giving way to their rivals and are falling much behind them. In this business context, the mergers and acquisition activity comes into lime light. By definition, the merger activity implies consolidating two firms forming one integrated firm. Explaining the difference between the mergers and acquisitions, Zhu and Huang (2007) observed that acquisition is different from mergers in the sense that an organisation buys off another organisation in acquiring it for a certain monetary value whereas in mergers the combining organisations merge themselves forming one single entity. Porter (1985) underlined that the motive behind the mergers and acquisitions is to attain competitive dominance in market. Authors, Lodorfos and Boateng (2006) opined that mergers and acquisitions are resorted to by the organisations mainly to improve their economies apart from other motives such as to better their technological backdrop, to mitigate risks, and to obtain expertise for producing quality goods. In furtherance, Zhu and Huang (2007) observed that alongside improving economies of organizations, mergers and acquisitions help organizations grow and expand their business operations. In another observation, authors Cartwright and Cooper, 1993), underlined that the organisations resort to the M&A activity mainly to attain market dominance.

However, authors Magnet (1984) and Gilkey (1991) put forward their contention that most of the transactions, nearly 60 per cent and often two-thirds of the M&A transactions actually ended up in failure. It is an intriguing contention as to what is the main reason for such a failure. Various academicians over the past have been 19

going through literary resources to find the actual reason for such overwhelming rate of failure in mergers and acquisitions.

In this regard Peng (2010) argue that fruitful results depend upon the choice of good and appropriate answers. The author is of the opinion that the human relationships within the organisations are critical for the success of the M&A activity. Further another scholar Gilkey (1991) stated:

"The high percentage of failure is mainly due to the fact that mergers and acquisitions are still designed with business and financial fit as primary conditions, leaving psychological and cultural issues as secondary concerns. A close examination of these issues could have brought about a learning process, directed at successfully managing such ventures."

The author further argues that the employees of an organisation are often worried about their future if their organisation is going to acquired by another organisation there is sense of fear in their minds which develops an unwelcoming attitude in them towards the imminent acquisition.

The employees are further pulled into confusion because of the lack of information and the ill attitude of the management in not providing clear news about the acquisition activity. Therefore, the employees are driven into a state of confusion and anxiety and are puzzled if the news of acquisition is dramatic in few cases.

In furtherance, the studies of Mirvis and Marks (1985) indicate that due to lack of information various speculations are created and the employees tend to believe them because they have not been informed of anything. This further leads to a lot of confusion and the rumours that are spread around take care to increase the turmoil by spicing up the situation. Therefore, it always better to inform the employees of the imminent acquisition beforehand to avoid all these unfortunate happenings. The acquiring company is ill benefitted because of the confusions in employees who are

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anxious about their future and employment. The acquiring company is at loss if the employees coming from the acquired company are disturbed.

In this context it is quite useful to revise the viewpoint of Zhu and Huang (2007) who in their studies observed that if the organisation does not provide information regarding acquisition to its employees, a feeling of uncertainty and insecurity is created in their minds which leads to several problems after the acquisition. The problems are more in case of acquisitions taking place between organisations of differing cultures. Of course, the corporate culture within an organisation may not be a hurdle but the national, cultural and linguistic diversity are likely to create new problems for the managements of organisations.

On similar lines, scholar Peng (2010) also opined that these fresh problems following acquisitions will have to be dealt with greater precision and skill; often a foreign language skill will help in communicating better.

First of all it is necessary to understand the constituents of an acquisition statement. An acquisition statement is basically an agreement made between the acquirer and the institution or entity that is being acquired. The statement consists of the terms and conditions mutually agreed upon by both the parties and the purchase of the stock or the sale of properties will be made based on this agreement. The details of the agreement clearly mention various specifications of the transaction being made such as the stock costs; payment options, closing date, and all the legal proceedings that have to be finished before the closing date. Further it will mandatory for the selling entity to give written form of guarantee for the intellectual assets that are being sold. When compared to purchasing a share, purchasing of an asset requires legal supervision and authenticity even greater than the former case the reason being that the buyers of an asset will own it for life whereas that is not the case with a share purchase.

Whatever the kind of transaction, when it comes under the domain of intellectual property rights, asset schedules are imperative as they determine representations and sureties to be mentioned in the agreement (5).

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The mergers and acquisitions' agreements between the US organisations stress upon identification and scheduling of intellectual properties. On the other hand, we find emphasis on the representations and sureties in European agreements.

Another clarification that has to be made within the agreement as t avoid confusion is that the seller has to clearly state what are the boundaries of intellectual properties he is selling and what business he is willing to retain. All these have to be clearly mentioned in the contents of the agreement. For instance, the selling entity wish not to sell its title, the "house" trademark, however, if he has given consent to inclusion of such a trademark in some of the products, then terms and conditions have to be stated clearly.

Further there should be clear cut legal formalities and licensing of trademarks and the seller is obliged to prove the license of trademarks to the buyer using solid documents before the closing date (7).

Within the agreement for purchasing intellectual properties, the 6th clause brings in heavy negotiations as it incorporates representations and Warranties. Information contained regarding the representations and warranties outlines the scheduling information related to the intellectual properties transfer. The transfer information has to be precise stating clearly as to whom the intellectual property is being transferred and that there are no legal implications such as liens, etc. It is the responsibility of the seller to make everything clear to the buyer because intellectual properties transfer is a complex legal procedure. Assistance should be given to the buyer while processing legal documents. The seller will have to transfer all necessary documents such as the existing licenses, settlement agreements, consent agreements, ongoing litigations, etc. Only transparency can ensure the completeness of this complex agreement. There should be any hurdle to the use of intellectual property by the buyer, if any the seller should mention as per the 8th clause.

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1.8 Organisational culture

According to Cameron and Quinn (2006), the realisation upon the importance of organisational culture and its strategic value came into light only in the 1980. Before 1980s the existing organisational culture and values were casual and were not of much importance for organisations. In fact, organisations were ignorant of values and on implementing specific organisational culture in the workspace. Ever since 1980s organisational culture and its impact on the performance of employees was studied immensely by various academicians with special mention to likes of De Long and Fahey (2000); McDermott and ODell (2001); and Schein (2004). In such an attempt to study organisational culture, Jarnagin and Slocum (2007) arrived at the conclusion that the way the employees behave and perform depends more on the organisational culture and values they are subjected to rather than the guidance and instructions provided by senior managerial staff.

Organisational culture has been the popular subject of debate to the recent researchers. The researchers emphasised on the perceiving organisational culture being the focal point of performance. In this context, the studies of Cameron and Quinns (2006) stand out to be epitomic. In their studies, the above scholars have designed the model Competing Values framework (CVF) which has been very much appreciated by Chin-Loy and Mujtaba (2007) in their works. The CVF has classified organisational culture possessed by organisations into four classes of culture; 1) Clan; 2) Adhocracy; 3) Market; and 4) Hierarchy.

1. Clan culture This type of cultural environment is characterised by friendliness among the employees. People openly share their thoughts and life. Such a friendly atmosphere can generate teamwork spirit and commitment. Further, the employees maintain healthy relationship with their colleagues as well as the management. From the management side, there are employee involvement assignments and a good appraisal system and corporate training, guidance and learning programmes.

2. Adhocracy culture This kind of organisational culture is found within firms that are generally not mechanical in their culture practices and are work focussed. In

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addition, the organisation practising this kind of culture has a dynamic and creativity generating working environment. The employee team of the organisation is empowered and risks are taken. Leadership is recognised and motivated and employees are motivated to handle risk taking.

3. Market culture The organisation cultivating this kind of culture focuses on attaining market dominance and competitiveness by increasing the interests of the stakeholders in the organisations, in fact, it channelizes stakeholders towards investing more. The organisation of this kind will focus on two principles, they are competitiveness and productivity. Therefore, the burden of competition also falls upon the individual employee. Sharing of knowledge is absent and is substituted with competition, "if you compete, you survive".

4. Hierarchy culture In this kind of organisational culture, certain rigid formalities and hierarchical principles persist. There is a standard for everything in this kind of an organisation and rules apply for everything even at the individual level of actions. Employees have lesser freedom to make decisions and are seldom empowered. The organisation of this kind strives on reinforcement of rules and focuses on consistency in production and depends on predictable results. Knowledge sharing is blocked by hierarchy and vertical and horizontal working units. Knowledge is blocked mainly because of power and hierarchical blockade.

Basing on the CVF, Cameron and Quinn developed another model which integrates the CVF elements, it is known as the OCAI (Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument). It can be viewed as an extension to the CVF; however the authors argued that it is simpler and economical than the CVF. Cameron and Quinn further stated that both the above models have been successful in predicting organisational performance by assessing the culture within a particular organisation. In fact, both these models have been employed by organisations to critically evaluate their cultures and find out the impact of the same on the performance of their employees.

It is noteworthy to revise the comments of authors De Long and Fahey (2000) who observed that quality leadership lies in recognising culture within an organisation as the critical instrument that can either hone the skills of its employees or can act as a barrier and produce negative results. One important observation made by academicians 24

is that employees do not tend share their knowledge because they fear to be dominated in competition. Therefore, the organisation should see to it that sharing of knowledge is practised by its employees by encouraging leadership qualities by some means of recognition and appraisal and by their cultural practices which should ensure relationship among employees and a sense of friendship. Authors, Al-Alawi et al (2007); McDermott and ODell (2001); Milne (2007); Smith (2001), are in support of the above suggestion that there should be incentives for knowledge sharing practices and leadership qualities, it can be recognised by strategic promotion of those employees possessing leadership qualities such as knowledge sharing, teamwork and coordination.

In their framework model for organisational culture, Cameron and Quinn (2006) marked two main parameters that determine the performance boosting quality of organisational culture, they are: 1) Discretion and Flexibility together with Stability and Control; and 2) Internal focus and Integration together with external focus and differentiation. Further based on these two identified parameters, the authors derived four cultural quadrants, which are clan, adhocracy, hierarchy, and market. The authors remarked that each of the above four act as indicators of organisational performance.

Ultimately the knowledge sharing factor depends upon the behavioural characteristics of the workforce of an organisation which comprises employees at different levels, namely the managers, general officials and employees, as well as the decision making team comprising of leaders. There are innumerable references and academic contributions towards organisational culture; some of the eminent authors who researched on the aspects of organisational culture are Chin-Loy and Mujtaba (2007) and Roma n-Vela zquez (2005). The above authors focussed on the effects of different kinds of organisational cultures such as clan, adhocracy, the market as well as the hierarchy culture on the performance of organisation. The kind of organisational culture from the above followed in an organisation determines the extent of knowledge sharing in that organisation.

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1.9 Impact of organisational culture in international business

Author Hofstede (1980, p. 21) defined organisational culture as "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another". In other words, culture can also be visualised as a system though imperfect in nature that is shared and shaped by the members of the system with their experience. We are not especially aware of our own culture, however, our culture determines our actions, behaviour, the way we dress and or be it the way we interact, and culture influences almost all of our social characteristics. The fundamental default with most of the management concepts and theories is that they are all developed by westerners and were assumed to be applicable globally. Therefore, people and institutions of one locality or a nation find difficult to cope and implement these theories as they are incompatible to their cultural environment and values. Moreover, people of one nation have shared values which are distinct to those of others and this difference is unnoticed by them, however, when people of other countries encounter these situations they will be able to easily distinguish.

Author, Hofstede (2005) also remarked that some of the academicians are under the opinion that the distinguishing features of national institutions within a country lead to different thinking, feelings and different cultural practices in that country. The institutions that influence culture include national governments, law institutions, associations, educational institutions and family structures. However, according to Hofstede (2005), some other academicians emphasised on culture of a nation as being the most important element that influences the nature of cultural practices within an organisation located in that nation. Therefore, it is not possible to apply western management theories globally because nobody can change the characteristic behaviour or culture of the people of one nation. For instance, the westernised philosophies and culture dating back to Socrates cannot be applied to an Asian country like China which derives its cultural values from Confucius and the philosophy of Taoism, so opine authors Fang (2001); Zhuang & Zhou (2004) in their studies.

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In this context, various scholars such as the likes of Lubatkin alor Veiga (1997) and Pioch (2007) have opined that it is most important for MNCs to closely examine the cultural values characteristic of a nation where they intend to establish subsidiary business units and therefore, modify the parent cultural practices of their organisations in accordance with the local culture. The scholars emphasised that the above stated concept will boost healthy headquarter-subsidiary relationships. Similarly the same principles are valid and apply appropriately in the context of mergers and acquisitions. Therefore, the acquirer should closely examine and first of all understand the cultural scenario of the nation where his acquired organisation is operating from. It is imperative and of immense utility in the period after the acquisition when the acquirer integrates the organisational culture of the company that is acquired as well as its management system.

1.9.1 Diversity management in international businesses According to Ayoko and Hartel (2006) the current happenings and circumstances in the international scenario taking place in political, social and economical spheres have brought upon the realisation among the managers and entrepreneurs to put cultural diversity management in the drivers seat. Extending the above contention further, Seymen (2006) underlined that cultural diversity management is imperative because of the changing social circumstances such as increased events and gatherings, migratory phenomena, and increased encounters of multiethnic, multicultural and multi-linguistic people and cultures, and because of increased globalisation leading to integration of markets and economies.

Offering a new dimension to the above argument, authors Milliken and Martins (1996) observed that due to the presence of multiethnic environment the needs and necessities of the society also change, in fact, it leads to the creation of a multiethnic market. In this context the employee team of an organisation consisting of people from different cultures and ethnicities, is advantageous as it can provide the necessary backup for the organisation to diversify marketing campaigns and advertising strategies. The multicultural teamwork generated would guide the advertising and marketing departments of an organisation and therefore the organisation for obvious reasons can 27

easily dominate the market thus gaining a competitive advantage, so opined Griggs (1995). Also, according to Milliken and Martins (1996), such multicultural team can give creative options for the management in guiding it on producing particular products and services matching the tastes and preferences of audience of their respective cultures.

In their attempt to investigate on diversity management, Tung (1993) and Iles (1995) ended up classifying it into categories, the first one being the cross-national diversity management and the second one being intra-national diversity management. The scholars implied that diversity management does not confine to managing the human resources of diversified cultures within the parent organisation, rather it implies managing human resources of its international subsidiaries too.

The first category of diversity management is about managing relationships between the personnel coming various parts of world culture and the personnel of the parent organisation itself to manage and cultivate team-spirit and commitment. However, the other category, i.e. the intra-national diversity management develops healthy relationships and manages integration of diversified workforce within the same nation, for example women, multiethnic minorities, managing newly recruited workforce, and physically challenged people and cultivating the spirit of oneness in them.

1.9.2 Cultural Integration The overview of concerned literature indicates that cultural integration in an organisation post acquisition takes place through four different phases. The four phases of cultural integration are contact, conflict, adaptation and integration. These phases have been identified by Berry (1983) and also in the works of Pan (2006). In all the above phases the management is exposed to different experiences and will face different kinds of challenges in each of them. Therefore, the management has a herculean task of carefully managing these phases with an appropriate approach towards each of them.

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The initial phase as already mentioned is the phase in which the employees of both the organisations get into contact and introduce themselves. This phase occurs immediately after the acquisition process has just occurred. The employees who get into interaction with each begin to share the organisational values, procedures, etc of both their respective organisations and try to sort out differences in official procedures, operations and the system of their respective organisations. This is the phase when employees of both the organisations are very much curious to know about each others corporate cultures, production and management methods and their reputations. The employees are generally excited about knowing many a things. Scholars do not rule out conflicts happening in this phase but are of the opinion they will be mild and insignificant. As it is just the beginning and there wont be in-depth perceptions among the employees about changed organisational culture, therefore, conflicts if any will be mild and can be neglected.

Raynaud (1991) and Pan (2006) suggest that in this particular phase the management should deploy a special team of managers to sort out the potential differences and issues that may come out soon and prevent them with necessary managerial and preventive measures. The appointed team should be able to study the situation and identify key differences between both the institutions and should be able to resolve the issues those differences are likely to create. Author Raynaud recommended that the appointed team should employ questionnaires, interviews and focus groups in order to investigate on the probable cultural and organisational differences. Therefore, based on the information and facts submitted by the team, the management should take certain decisions and necessary remedies beforehand as prevention is better than cure. Apart from the above, the team should able to identify potential conflict creating areas and cultural gaps that can cause damage as well as the strong and weak areas in the systems of both the organisations. Using such information it is the immediate task of the management professionals to sketch out a plan for achieving cultural integration within the consolidated organisation.

The next phase, i.e. the second one, is characterised by conflicts. The conflicts so encountered will pull back the integration activity. Issues like social comparison, disagreements, arguments, and stereotyping will come into light in this phase. The 29

cultural conflicts that come into light are often dangerous to the management as they destabilise the system. Viewing from the national setting, conflicts or differences may arise mainly due to linguistic and cultural background of people. Viewing from the setting of corporate culture, the possible conflicts will be with regards to difference in nature of management operations and organisational values. Author, Pan (2006) observed the cultural conflicts that occur will in turn have three phases of development; they are magnification of differences, classification of those differences, and putting down.

After the acquisition had taken place, in the course of time conflicts will slowly develop. As they pick the momentum at point of time they burst out and the situation where the employees of both the organisations will clash for more power and influence each claiming superior talent and capacity. In the second phase of conflict development, there will be a kind of biasing that will take place between both the firms employees and they start behaving stereotypically with each other. One imminent situation that cannot be avoided is that the stronger team will come down heavily upon the organisational culture of the weaker one. It is in this phase that the weaker section is forced to give way to the organisational practices of the stronger one. As a result, the weaker team is distressed and disappointed and a kind of resentment and detachment with the organisation is formed in their minds.

There are also chances for the feeling of being lonely and left out especially in people working away from their home in a foreign organisation. Therefore, the concept of cultural integration is setback and the people those are left start feeling nostalgic and helpless leading to depression.

Literature makes two recommendations to avoid conflicts; they are creating cultural awareness among employees by through training and orientation programme for the same and the other recommendation is that immediate resolving action in the wake of issues. In the first one, it is important to inculcate flow of communication and educate the employees about their colleagues cultural background and to create an environment that promotes friendliness amongst them. The above as a part of cultural integration is the prevention operation. Further, the spirit of teamwork can be inculcated 30

via proper training for the same. Put together, the above activities would generate friendly atmosphere and throw out disagreement, stereotyping, etc form the minds of the employees. The next recommendation is the plan of action in the wake unrest almost immediately after its occurrence. The management should try both formal and informal ways of resolving issues by setting up talks with the parties under conflict and convincing them with proper judgement and rationale; it all depends on the negotiating skills of the managers.

The next phase as mentioned in earlier discussion on the phases of cultural integration is the adopting phase. This particular phase is the longest phase of cultural integration. Changes take place and there may be strong appeals and demands for preferential cultural practices, nevertheless this phase takes usually more time than any other phase. Pan (2006) made an observation that the international merger and acquisition activity that took place in China faced pretty lot of problems while integrating with the culture of the country. The M&A activity in the rest of the world was so much better than in China. Therefore, in such countries where there are a lot of issues troubling, it is better take longer time to achieve cultural integrity. Moreover there should not be any gap of communication between the parties, the acquirer organisation and the selling organisation. Therefore, the adoption period is critical as it allows the organisation to focus on developing high breed culture taking care of the cultural needs of all the ethnic and cultural groups involved.

In this context as suggested by literature, two elements come into lime light; one is that it is vital and necessary to understand your culture before you move on to judging understand that of others. It is important because in the process of assessing our own culture we come across several weaknesses in our own culture, of course the process also allows us to appreciate our culture. The causes of the drawbacks of the culture can also be discovered through the above mentioned investigative study on ones own culture. The management would be able to evaluate its own culture and is able to critically compare its culture with that of the acquired institution. The second important element to be kept in mind is to develop the spirit of empathy, i.e. to be able to put yourself in others shoes, this is vital importance in the context of cultural integration. Certain theories on social categorisation and identification underline that 31

"membership in any social group provides occurring lines along which conflict can be drawn", in view of the above, authors Turner (1982) and Kramer (1991) remarked that

such a situation will arise when members of a community have discriminatory attitude towards other social communities. In furtherance, Turner (1982) indicated that there is a chance for social comparison and prestige being inculcated in such individuals. Moreover, individuals with discriminatory attitudes tend to favour the members of their own group and tend to show some sort of discomfort while working with outside people. It is natural given the circumstances in which these people are brought up but there is always education that can make them realise the value of cultural integrity and indiscrimination. Hence, the communication flow is broken down and biasing takes place. Milliken and Martins (1996) reasoned that such situation arises because the people of certain social community tend mix up more with the members of their own group and that in turn is because their habits and cultures tend to match readily. Therefore these key issues have to be resolved by the management so that empathy is cultivated amongst individuals of diversified cultural backgrounds.

Now coming to the final phase of cultural integration, namely the integration phase; as it was evident in the above discussions, realising cultural integration is not as easy as implementation of any other measures, rather it requires careful supervision and planning. It is not simply overlapping one layer of culture over the other, its complex and needs great managerial and leadership qualities. On careful observation the acquirer organisation should notice and examine the culture that is prevalent in the acquired organisation and from there it should make note of key issues that would likely to come out and proceed to take necessary preventive measures and then begin the cultural integration programme. There are so many things involved in the process and some things need to be revised in context of the acquired organisation, such as the marketing operations, operations, and some other organisational ingredients. All the necessary steps will determine the success of the acquisition and cultural integration programme as such. The fruits of such success are quite useful, for example the organisation would able to compete with more than its previous status as it has multicultural multiethnic personnel who know the backgrounds and needs of the people of their societies. There is opportunity and immense scope for exploring new dimensions, etc. However, the first step in the whole process is to complete and realise cultural integration. Several authors 32

felt that the main hurdle for the M&A activity is the diversity and incompatibility of national and corporate cultural attributes which often leads to failure of mergers and acquisitions. As already mentioned culture has the potential to become the topmost strength of an organisation, it will increment the organisations adaptability and its capacity to resolve diverse issues as well as flexibility. In fact, cultural integration when implemented successfully would result in gifting an organisation with a unique set of organisational culture and values.

The fundamental principle behind the concept of cultural integration therefore is to be empathetic and to respect and appreciate others cultural attributes and to adapt to them in order to establish a hybrid kind of cultural practice respecting values of all cultures. In word call it Unity in Diversity. The company that is acquiring another company should not blindly transfer its cultural practices to the company that is being acquired, in fact that is the reason for the high failure rate in the M&A scenario.

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1.10 Acquisitions in UK fashion industry

According to the statistical bulletin released by the Office of the National Statistics, UK the value and number of mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving UK companies was worth over 1.0 million. Key findings of the quarterly report (Q-1, 2011) include the following:

By the end of the first quarter of 2011 the asset value of UKs acquired companies in other countries was estimated to be around 18.3bn as against its previous value of 3.8bn at the end of 2010. In fact, this is the highest mark achieved by UK firms in terms of outward investment since the end of 2007.

However, the expenditure value incurred on acquisitions came down a little low in beginning quarter of 2011 from 7.0 billion the previous quarter.

Expenditure on acquisitions in the UK by UK companies fell to 1.2bn in the first quarter of 2011 from 6.3 billion in quarter four of 2010.

Melin (2009) reported that the then worth of UK Fashion industry was 44.5b. The 1960s scenario was that on an average every house in Britain spent 10 per cent of their total spend on fashion-ware such as shoes, sandals and clothes. However, in current scenario where there are lots of promotional offers in fashion-ware, the household expenditure on fashion goods is only six per cent. Encouragingly for the consumer, between 2001 and 2005, the average clothing and footwear prices fell 14.4% whilst the cost of living has risen by 12.6%.

UK Fashion brands are kind to their customers by offering them a wide range of discounts and sales offers all through the year and more in festive seasons. Within the scenario of discounting prices, there exists tough competition within the UK fashion industry. For example a top brand like Marks & Spencer faces very high competition 34

from the discounting practices of its juniors like Primark and TK Maxx. Regarding the fashion trend and preferences of young fashion lovers, few of the fashion magazines observed that young fashion lovers are going for posh overseas brands like Prada (Italian brand), Hugo boss (German), Chloe (French), Donna Karan (US) and Burberry (UK). Moreover, the increasing population of cheaper imported fashion brands has had a considerable damage on UK fashion industry.

Therefore, UKs fashion giants have shifted to manufacture special fashion wear with exquisite look and costly clothing products aimed at alluring wealthy consumers abroad. Moreover, the trend of integrating retailers with the manufacturers is also underway in UK fashion world.

In the reports of Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and BHS, the topmost fashion retailer in UK is Next followed by Marks & Spencer and Arcadia in the third position. The above fashion giants are also manufacturers who do not have separate retailers for their goods. However, brands such as Nike, Adidas and Reebok are not the retailers of their own products, they have external retailers.

From the literature, it can be inferred that retailing units continue to dominate UK fashion industry with their discounting and sales promotional practices, however, there are retailers who sell their brands with minimal discounting there is a continuous tug of war between these and the discounters. The fashion mantra of the full price retailers is that they sell updated fashion trends and tend to attract youth even though they are costly; youth group of consumers are attracted to couture-house model designs and the kind of fast fashion goods which keep changing trends every season. Various market experts reported that in 2010 there was 23 per cent and 15.6 per cent increase in fashion designs of mens and boys respectively. Various other sources reported that there was increase in womens, girls as well as infants clothing goods.

The above comprehensive discussions have given us an in-depth understanding of the positives and negatives within the mergers and acquisitions activities that have taken place in the past and are still underway in the international scenario. We have also

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seen the importance organisational culture and its impact on the mergers and acquisitions activity.

However according to the studies of Sharona Peng (2010) some of the academic works have explored on acculturation within the mergers and acquisitions activities in all possible directions, also a few case studies are available which give an empirical treatment to the above mentioned concept.

As such the research furthers to investigate to take fashion industry into consideration to study the stated area practically.

Case Study firm Dorothy Perkins

Internationalisation and Growth through Acquisitions Internationalisation Acquisitions

1979: Dorothy Perkins is bought by the Burton Group. 90 international outlets in: 21 1998: The Burton Group Plc becomes Arcadia countries Group Plc. 2002: Philip Green, owner of Bhs, purchases the Arcadia Group Plc. 1946: Peter Robinson women's fashion chain 1971: Evans. and 1998: Renamed Arcadia Group. 1999: Wallis, Miss Selfridge and Outfit. 2002: Philip Green, owner of Bhs, purchases the Arcadia Group Plc.

Burton

400 stores in the Republic of Ireland.

UK

180 global stores in continental Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, the Middle East, India and Japan. Plus an international website. Signed up to be the official London 2012 Olympic Games Sponsorer and will be providing uniforms and suits for all technical officials and organising committee staff.

1981: Kendalls rainwear shops chain 1981: Womens wear group of stores called Next. 1986 Grattan plc (mail order company) and changes its name to Next plc. 2008: Lipsy, womens fashion brand.

Observation: In the works of Welch & Luostarinen (1988), internationalisation was defined as the process of increasing involvement in international operations. The above definition put forward by the scholars outlined the internal and external aspects of globalisation. One can view the above stated comparison with the analogy that 1+1=3?; the M&A is much or lesser produces the same result. In the above table, the scenario of acquisition that took place between some of the brands has been listed in terms of facts such as change of names and other critical information. One must realise that internationalisation is a continuous strategic

Next

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happening that is underway in most of todays economies. A firm that is internationalising its business operations is most likely to obtain immense experience in business.

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1.11 Conceptual Model

Within the literature of organizational culture the researcher has identified that there exist innumerable conceptual frameworks that have been proposed to underpin organisational culture, for example the works and models of various authors such as Trompenaars and Hapden-Turner s model (1997), Hofstede s model (1991), Goffee and Jones model (1998), Deal and Kennedy s model (1982) stand out. The researcher after examining the above models, tick marked Quinn and Rohrbaughes model (1983) on organisational culture as the suitable one which is close to the current study which investigates on why organisations need to gain values through the organisational culture.

Erica and Alberto (2006) argue that the model suggested by Quinn and Rohrbaughe has got immense practical utility as it interprets various organisational cultures and their impact on the performance of personnel. The above scholars considered studying on the practical application of Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument proposed by Cameron and Quinn more because it acts as an assessing instrument that is founded on Competing Value Framework. The above stated model is quite useful also because it directly evaluates the case study institution and case study being the chosen research strategy it becomes imperative (figure-00).

Figure 1: Organisational culture and Competing value frameworks

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Source: (Cameron and Quinn, 2006)

In furtherance, authors Erica and Alberto (2006) have underlined the four kinds of organisational cultures, i.e. clan, adhocracy, market and hierarchy within the model proposed by Quinn and Rohrbaughe. The authors have stated that the classification in the above stated model was based on two critical areas, they being control/flexibility and internal/external focus. The stated areas have their own characteristic details, styles of leadership, personnel management and type of HR practices. The above mentioned critical areas were pinned down after exploring into various organisational frameworks.

It is interesting to look into how the above mentioned scholars were able to devise their widely accepted and practised models. The story goes as this; it was Campbell along with his team of colleagues who identified 39 indicators from within those that are treated as possible drivers of organisational performance. Further work was carried out by Quinn and Rohrbaughe who have examined the exclusive list of 39 performance indicators proposed by Campbell and team. The authors have carefully conducted as statistical analysis on the indicators which led to discovery of two major dimensions; it was indeed a much awaited breakthrough. As explained in the results put forward by Quinn and Rohrbaughe, the first dimension clearly distinguished various performance indicators such as flexibility, discretion and dynamism from stability, order and control. If one can observe here, the difference between flexibility, discretion and dynamism, and stability, order and control is so clear, these sets of variables stand on either sides of a coin in the current business scenario. While the first three variables represent a fast changing environment characterised by adaptability and growth within an organisation, the other three go with the more mechanistic and conservative kind of organisational culture.

Now, as illustrated by Quinn and Rohrbaughe in their conceptual model, the second dimension differentiates performance indicators of internal orientation and integration form those of external orientation, competitive and rivalry attitudes. An observation to be underlined here is that the concept of internal orientation and harmony goes well with some of the organisations while others prefer to grow via the 39

channels of competition and external orientation. The authors illuminated their readers by their conceptual models consisting of the two dimensions within it which in turn gave rise to four quadrants of performance criteria. The four quadrants can be briefed, within the two classified dimensions, as flexibility Vs control and internal orientation Vs External orientation.

Lastly the four identified kinds of cultural practices emerged out on close examination of the two dimensions and their four sub-dimensions. Cameron and Quinn, (2006) explained that the four kinds of cultural practices have different features such as leadership values, strategic relationships and the like. In the context of the clan culture, people are more collaborative and there is the spirit of teamwork, leaders build teams and there are mentors to train and motivate employees, there is greater emphasis on human resources development. In case of the market culture, the atmosphere is different; there is the spirit of competition everywhere, both in the internal and external environments of the organisation, brow rising aspect is that even the leaders are competitors, the organisation of this kind emphasises more on results than the personal growth aspects of its employees. On the other hand, the adhocracy culture is characterised by energetic environment where the leaders are innovators, they have a vision for the organisation, and they encourage creativity and innovation. However, the hierarchy atmosphere is a kind of serious one where emphasis is on control, coordination, organised rules and on systematic and consistent developments.

As discussed above the research furthers to investigate how the stated quadrants fit into the case study organisation and test the discussed value framework within the context of the research.

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Chapter Three
Introduction to Research Methodology
Management studies and related research, as observed by Easterby Smith et al (2002), are in many ways unique in their approach. The authors observed that these studies in fact have diversified dimensions to be explored via research. As such, most of academicians agree that these study dimensions cannot be channelized easily. In the present chapter, the researcher tried put forward and explain each of the research approaches chosen by him as well as the justifications for choosing them. As such the chosen methodology and its components are detailed and explained in this chapter and in the justification part the relevance and utility of chosen methods, approaches and tools are presented keeping in mind the core aims of the study. Further the researcher presented justifications as to why he did not consider applying certain methods and approaches. Author White (2005) observed that a research study institutes various updated methods and tools proposed by academicians over time. Therefore, keeping all those developments in mind, the researcher also mentioned various literary evidences on the chosen research methods and approaches.

1.12 Research Design

After going through various research methodologies detailed in past literature, the researcher felt that Saunderss (2007) research onion research design was more convenient to conduct the current study and it was more self-administrative in nature. The above stated model detailed all the available methods and approaches by presenting them in its various layers analogous with an onion. The above mentioned model is diagrammatically presented in the below figure, (figure-2).

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Figure 2: Saunders Research Onion

Source: Saunders et al., (2007)

Stated below (table-1) are the methods identified and chosen by the researcher with the ideas gained from the research onion design.

Table 1: List of methods-Paradigms studies-Paradigm adopted

Research Method Philosophy Approach Strategy Data Sampling Methods Sampling Paradigms Sampling Tool

Paradigms Studied Positivism & Interprevitism Qualitative-Quantitative; Deductive-Inductive; Explanatory-Exploratory-Descriptive Survey-Action Research-Case Study Primary & Secondary Probability & Non-probability Judgmental & Non-Judgmental Quota-Snowball-Judgmental

Paradigm Adopted Interprevitism Qualitative Deductive Explanatory Case Study Primary & Secondary Non-probability Non-Judgmental Judgmental

1.13 Research Philosophy

Hughes (1994) emphasised that understanding research philosophies and related issues is a fundamental necessity for every researcher. Research philosophy chosen by 42

the researcher is the foundation on which the whole of the research and its various dimensions are built. Easterby- Smith et al (2002), briefed the utility of research philosophy in the form of three advantages, they are: it guides the researcher while choosing suitable approaches and methods as well as tools for the conduct of the study; it hints the researcher as to rule out inappropriate and inadequate methods and tools and points to various limitations of chosen approaches; and lastly it gives scope for creative thinking and brings out the innovative potential of the researcher while deploying various research methods. Broadly, there are two major research philosophies identified by academicians, while the first one is Positivism, the second one is Interprevitism, both these are explained in the following discussion.

1.13.1

Positivism & Interprevitism

Author Levin (1988) posited that in positivist research approach it is assumed that reality is unchangeable and that it can be observed from objective reference point. The author explained that a positivist studies reality without interfering in it. Further, other academicians supported the observation that replication of results over a time period should be possible in positivism. On the other hand, in Interprevitism, the researcher believes the realistic scenario of the observed phenomenon is obtained only by intervening in reality and making interpretations in a subjective manner. Interprevitists study the chosen phenomena in their natural backdrop. 1.13.2 Justification for Interprevitism

The fundamental principle of Interprevitism philosophy requires studying and interpreting on the phenomenon that is being investigated into, i.e. growth of the organisation internationally through acquisitions and mergers and also to investigate the impact of organisational values and culture in business internationalisation. Carrying forward in the present dissertation by focusing on fashion industry in UK, the researcher has chosen adopt the Interprevitism research philosophy, as it is not an inferior approach to positivism, and interpreting observed phenomenon. also that it makes use of subjectivity while

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1.14 Research Approach

The details of various research approaches as seen from Saunders research onion design are presented in the below table.

Table 2: Different Research Approaches

1 3 5

Qualitative & Quantitative Deductive and Inductive Explanatory, Exploratory & Descriptive
Based on the research onion as proposed by Saunders et al., (2007)

1.14.1

Qualitative & Quantitative

In a qualitative research approach, the analyst describes and interprets that which is being observed setting the reference point as the phenomenon and not the analyst himself. Authors, Rossman & Marshall (1999), defined qualitative research approach as the study approach which inquires into why things are observed the way they are observed while occurring in their social surroundings. However, quantitative approach is rather plain and does not involve complex interpretations, etc. Quantitative approach originated from within the scientific studies involving physical, biological and geological phenomena. This kind of approach is more statistical in nature and is often used to validate results. In fact, quantitative approach is used for ascertaining measurable phenomena.

1.14.1.1

Justification for Qualitative

Social science research, which got to do with sociological, psychological and anthropological phenomena, requires evaluation and interpretation of behavioural attributes of humans. Therefore, as opined by Morgan (1983), social science research cannot be done by measurable methods and subsequently quantitative analysis fails here. As such, the current study focuses on investigating into organisational growth internationally i.e. by merging and acquisitions with other organisations which are related to that particular sector and also attempts to know the impact of organisation values and cultures on the internationalisation. Therefore, as the nature of current study 44

needs more exploration and as it does not ask for measurements and calculations of the quantitative approach, the researcher chose to adopt qualitative approach. The researchers choice was also based on Hoepfls (1997) viewpoint according to which qualitative approach involves in-depth understanding and exploration of the phenomenon under focus. 1.14.2 Deductive and Inductive

Author Fisher (2007) defined both the processes of deductive and inductive. According to the author, in a deductive approach, an analyst makes inferences using scientific logic and understanding, on the other hand, the analyst makes use of his experience in past experimentation to arrive at inferences within data findings of the study. 1.14.2.1 Justification for Inductive

A deductive approach is mostly used in researches in context of scientific studies as also opined by Saunders et al (2007), who also stated that statistical findings and quantitative data are utilised in this kind of approach. However, as the current study has nothing to do either with science or with quantitative data which is used mostly for validation purpose, the researcher has chosen to apply qualitative approach to obtain useful results in the context of the research being done but also allows to develop a better understanding of research context. The qualitative approach that is being employed is flexible and allows the researcher to make useful interpretations from the opinions and expressions obtained from the representatives of case study institutions.

1.14.3

Exploratory-Explanatory-Descriptive approaches

An exploratory research approach is basically a method in which the subject of examination is described in-depth as observed by Babbie (1989). The author further explained that within an explanatory approach the question and reasoning around why is focussed through discussions based on qualitative analysis. On the other hand, a descriptive approach makes use of quantitative as well as qualitative research approaches as opined by Glass and Hopkins (1984).

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1.14.3.1

Justification for Explanatory:

The current study that investigates into the cultural aspect of mergers and acquisitions in the context of globalisation of businesses, deals with researching around the why concerns within the study framework and its various dimensions, therefore it becomes imperative to adopt explanatory research approach. The study majorly discusses on impact of the organisational culture and values in international business while addressing mergers and acquisitions.

Author, Saunders et al (2007) observed that in an explanatory approach, the researcher focuses on why a phenomenon has a particular characteristic of occurring in the way it occurs. As such, in the current dissertation, the chosen subject of focus is the acquisitions and mergers framework and the specific manner in which the impact of organisational values and culture occurs. Moreover, the explanatory approach is implemented to expedite identify the causes of the chosen phenomenon, (merger and acquisition of the organisations), factors (organisational culture and values) and relationships (organisational goals and employees satisfaction). Therefore, in view of the above statements and reasons, the researcher had adopted explanatory study.

1.15 Research strategy

Within the works of Galliers (1991), various kinds of research strategies have been identified, some of them are listed in the below table (table-3).

Table 3: Research Strategies

Source: Galliers, (1991)

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After going through the details of all the 14 listed research strategies, the researcher felt it is worth to explain three strategies which fall within the realm of the current study and its context; they are surveys, action research and case studies. The researcher, after having discussed each of these strategies, will choose the most suitable strategy.

1.15.1

Surveys-Action Search-Case Study

A survey is a method that utilises the tools such as questionnaires and interviews to obtain statistical information on the chosen subject of focus. Conclusions and relationships will be derived from the information gathered; whereas action research refers to a kind of applied research in which the results or answers to research questions are predicted by the researcher, which are practically perceived by the respondents who have participated in the study. As such academicians from various fields of study do not have a common perception on case study research strategy mainly because case study is used in different academic contexts differently.

1.15.2

Case study Justification

In the past literature, academicians have been criticising case study strategy as they felt it cannot be relied and does not locate the issues of generalizability (Johnson, 1994). Yet, Gummesson, (1991) argues that advantages come along with case study, one such advantage is that a case study facilitates the researcher to approach holistically in this present research the opinions of the samples that are identified in the case study organisations i.e. Burberry, Ben Sherman, FCUK, London Fog and Dr. Martens are different and is of certain progression (merging and the acquisition of the organisations i.e. internationalisation of the business) of actions and can give a perfect picture (impact of culture, values of the organisation on internationalisation) in the light of facts. It is again justified in the studies of Hartley, (1994) who stated that a case study is useful in bringing out unexplored issues within the chosen case study institution, in particular where it is varying quite quick in the present research it is the impact of organisational culture and values in internationalisation of business.

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1.16 Data
Data can be both qualitative, quantitative. Data is defined as a collection of information, related facts, variables, key observations, etc. Past literature identifies two major data collection processes, the first one being the primary data and the second one being secondary data.

1.16.1

Primary and Secondary Data

According to authors, Lev, L. Brewer and G. Stephenson (2004), primary data is any kind of information that is obtained by the personal efforts of the researcher or his team, whereas the secondary data might be outlined as the information set in question, which is gathered by another person for analysis or a particular reason under consideration, which are most probably literary devices.

1.16.1.1

Justification for Data

The researcher utilised both the primary and secondary data types to arrive at results in the current study. On the usefulness of secondary data, Sarah Boslaugh (2007) observed that secondary data collection via literature review will not only help in arriving at useful conclusions but will also help the researcher while analysing inferring on primary data findings. It is obvious that the researchers sole purpose is to gather primary data and therefore it is very important to arrive at expected conclusions and to realise the core aims and objectives of the research. In the context of current study, the primary data is gathered to verify the researchers claims on the status of organisational 48

culture and its impact on mergers and acquisitions in the current scenario of globalisation of businesses. The researcher conducted interviews for the selected sample from within case study organisation as a part of primary data collection. Therefore, both the primary and secondary data collection, were equally important for the study.

1.16.2

Data sampling

Corbetta (2003) viewed data sampling as recognizing a part so as to gather data concerning the whole is a practically natural human act. In order get the general idea of the subject that is being investigated, the researcher chooses certain samples from within the identified case study organisation and makes generalisation on the rest of the same type of samples which is outlined as the sampling procedure. Within Social sciences and managerial studies, there are broadly two kinds of sampling procedures, one is the probability sampling while the other is non-probability sampling. The major distinction between the above stated sampling methods is that the former incorporates quantitative information while the latter incorporates non-statistical information.

It was mentioned earlier and it is again reinstated here that current research utilises qualitative approach which is by nature non-statistical and therefore the researcher was prompted to choose non-probability judgemental sampling method. The above stated method, i.e. judgemental sampling allows the researcher to have the freedom on choosing samples by sorting out their key position and strategic use, however, the researcher chooses samples using his experience gained from literature review. The samples chosen are the representatives of the case study firm. In support of the chosen method, Saunders, (2007) opined that the chosen samples such as employees of a company that has been acquired or merged by other company wherein, the difference of organisation culture and value can be easily identified and the changes noticed in order to avoid variations and differences (difference of organisational culture of either the merged company or one that acquires it in the current study) that might also separate the samples from the characteristics of the whole group (in this research the groups are to be considered as the firms representing the fashion industry in particular and the firms that are either merged into another or acquired by) . 49

The researcher, for obtaining primary data, has picked out samples from within the case study firm (referred to as participants), they are listed in the following table:

Case Study Burberry, Ben Sherman, French Connection United Kingdom (FCUK), London Fog, Dr. Martens

Designation of the Sample Store Manager Director IHRM Senior Manager (IHRM) Senior Manager (Administration) Senior Manager (Public Relations) Middle/Lower HR and Admin Staff

No of Samples 01 01 01 01 01 5

Total No of Samples 05 05 05 05 05 25 50

Total No. Of Samples

The researcher conducted interviews for all of the above listed 50 samples. Within the interviews open-ended questions were utilised to discover key dimensions of the study. The interviews that were conducted were semi-designed in-depth interviews.

From among the above list of a total of 50 samples, interview-schedule is conducted. The questions derived are of open-ended types. This is as part of the semistructured in-depth interview. The questions are derived to test the literary evidences and the models discussed in the literature review.

The researcher incorporated a few close-ended of questions within the semidesigned interviews in order to explore certain themes from within the study. Further the researcher identified certain determinants from literature review, based on which the interview questions were devised. The determinants so identified are listed below:

1. Internationalisation of businesses

2. Mergers and Acquisitions

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3. Organisational culture and value

4. Employees attitude towards organisational culture

1.16.3

Data analytical tool: qualitative thematic analysis

Rice & Ezzy (1999, p. 258) outlined the process of thematic analysis as the analysis method which brings out hidden themes from the data findings by thorough reading and also re-reading of the information (Rice & Ezzy, 1999, p. 258). In fact by conducting thematic analysis, the researcher is able to give a shape to his study and streamline the findings and various themes that emerge in the process. Further the researcher evaluates and verifies the identified categories. However, there is criticism as well as appreciation for this kind of analysis tool. The advantage with thematic analysis is that it is self-administrative. However, Antaki et al (2002) observed that the tool lacks ground rules and defined procedure; therefore there is a kind of ambiguity associated with it. Moreover, researchers are of the opinion that thematic analysis is little complex. As such, there is no doubt about the tools efficiency and reliability.

With stated reasoning above and the main reason being that thematic analysis is more generic nature universally applicable in different contexts of research studies, the researcher felt that it would be appropriate to utilise thematic analysis in the current study. Regarding the theoretical structures, the researcher, for the present research the researcher considered internationalisation of business, mergers and acquisition and the organisational cultures and values and these are utilised to discuss and argue on various themes within the study. Kumar (2005) described thematic analysis as an essentialist or a realistic system of analysis which can be applied in general irrespective of the chosen research philosophy.

1.17 Ethical consideration

Here the researcher intends to emphasise that ethics are very important in any research study and that they have to be strictly adhered to. The current study which revolves around description and exploration of human behavioural attributes has to 51

comply with moral requirements more than anything else. The researcher is obliged to furnish necessary information and also has to furnish a copy of his work if any party involved in the course of the study so demands. The researcher should make sure that he has fully informed the participants about the consequences of the study assuring their anonymity.

Based on stated discussion the researcher as such the researcher has fully informed the participants about all necessary details giving them freedom and full discretion to withdraw from the process whenever they feel like. The privacy of the participants is not breached and anonymity was assured and adhered to. The researcher expressed each of the above discussed points under various sections of the Interview Schedule (Annexure-I)

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Chapter Four
Data findings and discussions
In the first chapter we have seen the introductory part of the current study as well its background and scope, further with the focus on realising the core aims and objectives and thereby resolving research questions, the researcher presented literary evidences and evaluated then in the light of the context of the present study in the subsequent chapter. The researcher employed the literary skill of critical analysis to bring out the essence previous literature that was focussed on the issues of the current study. All through the researchers focus was on attaining the core aims of the study and to provide rationale for his claims. Further, the chosen research methodology comprising of all necessary research methods was comprehensively presented in the third chapter. The researcher collected primary data from within the selected samples (50) of the case study firms during the two months of April and May, 2011. All through the process of primary data collection, the researcher utilised his experience as gained from literature review. Moreover, the researcher had the freedom to choose appropriate samples using his experience as also facilitated by the chosen sampling method, i.e. the non-probability judgemental sampling method. The researcher prepared the interview schedule and model of questions as also detailed in annexture-1. The so modelled set of questions were different for different for different set of samples, for example certain kind of questions were posed at the managerial staff, and certain other kinds of questions were set for other personnel in different levels of the case study firm. The researcher set different questions for interviewing the customers also. Each of the participants was furnished with one copy of the interview schedule and all necessary details were furnished within it. Also, all the participants were given consent forms for informing their participation. The researcher was fortunate to contact and interview each of the 50 participants.

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Therefore, after the interviews, the researcher carefully examined the gathered information and sorted out necessary things out of it. The core aims and objectives were considered while evaluating the gathered information. The opinions, feelings and expressions recorded during the interviews were carefully interpreted by the researcher qualitatively in order to gradually reach the goals of the study. The scenario within merger and acquisition activity was obtained using the gathered primary data through interviews and the cultural aspect was carefully examined. On the whole, the impact of mergers and acquisition in international business and its impact on the organisational culture and values were roughly obtained before the researcher proceeded to the technical process of deriving themes and coding.

In order to analyse the primary data, the researcher divided the whole process into three sections wherein the researcher in the first section derived codes using thematic analysis. In the next section the researcher proceeds to discuss the data findings of the primary data and compares them with those results of literature review. In third section, the researcher discusses and compares the results of primary data and secondary data and this comparison proves useful for making inferences.

Explanatory research approach was deemed fit for conducting the current study as discussions were necessary for presenting interpretations and balancing arguments between various dimensions of the study. As qualitative analysis was adopted in the current study, the researcher was further prompted to take upon semi-designed interview schedule as primary data collection tool. The above stated methods and approaches further prompted the researcher to adopt qualitative thematic analysis as the analysis tool. Thematic analysis was thus utilised to analyse both the primary and the secondary data findings. The research process revolved mainly around evaluating and interpreting opinions, feelings, and expressions of individuals who were chosen from within the case study firms.

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1.18 Deriving codes to discuss and analyse the data

The tool of thematic analysis, as opined by Kumar (2005), details six different types of codes for the coding process of research which are contrast, property; Need; cause; aspect; and result. The same author opined that it is sufficient if the researcher makes use of any of the six identified categories. The author also suggested that the researcher can derive his own code from within the literary evidences. However, the results depend on the kind of primary and secondary data findings which promote the research towards attaining research aims and objectives and also help in resolving different research questions.

The researcher keeping in mind the core aims and objectives of the current study derived a set of codes using the variables as obtained from literature review. The code that was developed is utilised in outlining the key ideas identified in the course of the study. The discussions were done on exploring the why and how aspects of the key ideas so identified. As already mentioned, the chosen research approach was case study and the case study firms within UK fashion industry are Burberry, Ben Sherman, French Connection United Kingdom (FCUK), London Fog, Dr. Martens.

1.19 Data Discussion in the light of the Research Objectives

As already stated in the introductory chapter, the core objectives of the study are:

To investigate into the organisations attempt of internationalisation of business through mergers and acquisitions;

To investigate how most of the present day branded firms of the UK fashion industry merger and/or involved in acquisition in the process of international growth;

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 To evaluate the general impact of organisational cultural and values in international business and the fashion industry in particular.

The above stated objectives of the research were derived from the focal aim of the research that stated to investigate into growth of an organisation internationally through mergers and acquisition and investigate into the impact of culture and values of the organisation in internationalisation of business; with a special focus on UK Fashion Industry.

1.19.1

Data discussion for Objective-1: To investigate into

the organisations attempt of internationalisation of business through mergers and acquisitions

Statement 1: Which of the following do you think play a vital role in international business?

The first close ended statement that was posted to the participants of the count fifty in the interview schedule is Which among integration values, organizational culture, management competencies do you think play a vital role in international business? Researcher observed that the responses of the participants are distinct in 56

nature even though some of them are of similar kind of feeling. The collected primary data is then analyzed and before that the data is presented using pie-chart. Majority of them i.e. 44% stated that in international business, integration of values plays a vital role whereas, 24% of them were of different opinion, they stated that it is the organisation culture plays a major role in internationalisation of business. In contrast to 68% of participants, 32% of them stated that integration values, organisation culture has nothing to do with internationalisation of business, they are of the opinion is management competencies is the factor that plays a vital role. Organisation will have certain values for example national values, service values, management values etc and when those values are integrated then any organisation can see the essence of success. Similarly organisation/firm will have a culture and it sees that every one working in it follows the culture so that it can gain competitive advantage which leads to the success of business. Apart from all these, organisation adopts some innovative strategies in such a way that they can be good competitors in the market which is nothing but management competencies.

When the statistics are clearly observed it is found that, integration of organisational values plays a vital role in international business.

Statement 2: Chances of gaining competitive advantages through Mergers and Acquisitions is always possible

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The organisations can have many advantages by mergers and acquisitions. In which the competitive advantage is the important one. The main aspects why the companies merge or acquisitions take place are to overcome the competition, to overcome the financial stability, sharing of resources like manpower, materials, money, machinery, and can be methodology also. The companies can gain competitive advantage by these processes because the company can merge its company having huge brand image by which the company can gain advantage of sharing brand name of the other company as well as it also have an advantage of decrease of one competitor in the market but this is not for every time.

The above pie diagram represents the responses given by the participants for the question posed by the researcher Chances of gaining competitive advantages through Mergers and Acquisitions is always possible.

Then, 22 % of the members out of 50 participants strongly agreed that its always possible to gain a competitive advantage .where as 48 % of the members partially agree with the statement and from remaining out of 15 members 10 members said that its not possible to gain a competitive advantage always but remaining 5 members strongly disagreed with the statement.

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1.19.2

Data discussion for Objective-2: To investigate how

most of the present day branded firms of the UK fashion industry merger and/or involved in acquisition in the process of international growth

Statement 3: The organization emphasize on emotional recognition of individual employees

The employees are the main asset of the organisation. Every organisation must take care of its employees in every aspect. They should consider their problems, issues, values, beliefs, norms. The organisation grows only when the employees work in the organisation with utmost commitment. The employees work with commitment only when the organisation gives importance to their values. It shows a very great impact on the employees behaviour patterns. So, it becomes very important for the organisations to concern about the emotions of the individual employees.

When researcher asked the employees about recognition of emotions of individual employees are considered by the organisation. The response given by the respondents is explained by pie chart above. It represents that, 8 members i.e.15% of the members out of 50 participants said that the organization emphasize on emotional recognition of individual employees.11% of the participants partially agree with the statement. Whereas 18 members 35% of the participants gave no responses which states 59

they are neutral about the statement posed by the researcher. From remaining 20 members of the participants 14 members said that they disagree and remaining 6 members strongly disagree.

Statement 4: The concept of globalization is the primary cause for gaining competitive advantage.

The globalisation is considered as a way for gaining competitive advantage by most organisations at present. Through the globalisation the organisation can gain existence in the foreign market as well as can also have an advantage over the present organisations in the domestic market. But it cannot be said that it is the primary cause for gaining the competitive advantage there are many other ways. It can be considered as one of them the other can be like marketing strategies along with product, price, place, promotion.

The above pie diagram represents the data collected by the researcher from the respondents for the statement The concept of globalization is the primary cause for gaining competitive advantage. It can be explained as out of total 50 respondents 18% of the participants said that they strongly agree with the statement. Whereas 22 members i.e. 44% expressed their partial agreement with the statement, and 4 members gave no response which implies that they are neutral about the statement. 8members

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i.e.14% of the members did not agree. And the remaining 7 members strongly disagreed with the statement.

1.19.3

Data discussion for Objective-3: To evaluate the

general impact of organisational cultural and values in international business and the fashion industry in particular

Statement 5: Your organization gives all the importance for integration values

The researcher explains that the samples when asked about the importance given by the organisation for integration values. The participants responded in the following way. Out of fifty participants 76% of the respondents feel that the organisation gives much priority in giving importance for the integration of values.

The 12% of respondents feel that the importance for integration values is given but not consider it as a major thing and from remaining 6 participants 4 of them said that they dont agree with the statement where as another 2 said that organisation do not consider to give importance for the integration values. So, from above we can say that on an overall in an organisation the integration values must be given more importance which impacts the employees of the organisation and therefore integration process is 61

not that easy and often involves amalgamation of both the organisational cultures, i.e. the acquiring firm and the acquired firm.

One important observation to be made here is that the organisation that is being acquired should not blindly transfer the ownership and create a surprise for its employees, rather it should inform its employees in advance so that fresh problems do not destabilise the acquiring organisation.

Statement 6: Trust and integrity are considered as the integration values in your organization

The organisations have to focus on the integration values. The organisation must have the trust and integrity as a main integration values for its employees. The employees of the organisation work effectively and enthusiastically when it believes the employees of the organisation and trust them. This leads to the organisational effectiveness and efficiency.

The above pie diagram represents the responses given by the participants of the survey. It is observed that the responses given by the members of the survey vary from one another. Out of 50 participants 24 %members i.e. 12 members responded positively to the statement. They said that the organisation considers trust and integrity as the integration values whereas 16 of the members felt that the organisation considers the 62

trust and integrity as the integration values but not up to much extent. The 12 members remained silent about the statement which indicates they are neutral about it. members strongly disagreed with the statement. 6 members i.e.12% of the members disagree with the statement and the remaining 8%

Statement 7: Mergers and acquisitions can be a strategic process for gaining competitive advantage

The companies can gain a competitive advantage through the mergers and acquisitions. The main aspect why the organisations prefer for merging & acquisitions is to gain a competitive advantage. The organisation can share the advantage of each other. Suppose for instance a company has brand image and another company has huge resources then the two companies combine together to have an advantage over one another. So that, the company can get brand image under the name of other company. And the company can share the resources of the other. So we can say that the organisations have many advantages over the mergers and acquisitions.

The researcher posed a question to the group of respondents Mergers and acquisitions can be a strategic process for gaining competitive advantage.19 participants out of 50 strongly agreed that mergers and acquisitions can be a strategic 63

process for gaining competitive advantage.11 participants have said that they partially agree with the statement.2 of the participants gave no response. From remaining 18 participants 11 members said that they disagree and 7 members strongly disagreed with the statement.

1.20 Data Discussion in the light of the Research Question

To attain the focal aim of the research investigate into growth of an organisation internationally through mergers and acquisition and investigate into the impact of culture and values of the organisation in internationalisation of business; the researcher after initial study of the literature poised a set of two research questions:

1. What is the general ideology and motive of organisations expanding their businesses through mergers and acquisition?

2. What role does the organisations culture and values play in its strategic growth process and how is it influenced in international business?

1.20.1

Data Discussion for research question 1:

Statement 8: The traditional system of gaining competitive advantage is the same in international businesses.

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The competitive advantage is the main area where the organisations mostly focus on. The organisations follow different strategies in order to gain the competitive advantage. And these strategies are formulated considering the factors like macro and micro factors. So the organisation should formulate different strategies for different places that must be structured according to the macro factors such as, political, demographical, economical, legal, geographical and cultural factors. It is also important for the organisations to consider the micro factors such as organisations potential how far it can cope with the foreign market. So it becomes more important for an organisation to formulate strategies according to the factors for gaining competitive advantage.

The above chart is the representation of the responses given by the respondents. The researcher tried to know from the respondents that what would be their opinion on the statement the traditional system of gaining competitive advantage is the same in international businesses; out of 50 participants 14 % of the participants said that they strongly agree with the statement. It means that the organisation can adopt same strategies as like in the traditional system and 18 % of the participants said that they partially agree.8% of them dint give any response regarding the statement they were neutral.

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Out of remaining 30 members 18% of them said that they disagree and 42% remaining participants completely disagreed with the statement.

Statement 9: Cultural differences in international businesses occur because of the national institutes like

As discussed earlier that the international business is influenced by many factors among which the culture is also one of the factor. The main factors which lead to cultural differences in international business can be stated as government laws, associations, national enterprises, religious community, and social structure. The above stated all the factors are responsible for the cultural differences occur in international business.

The participants were asked for which of the factor do they think that leads to cultural differences in the organisation. The response given by the participants can be represented by above pie diagram and can be explained as follows.4 members our of 50 participants i.e.8% of the participants strongly agree that government laws are more responsible for the cultural differences in the international businesses.

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Whereas 20% from the remaining participants i.e.10 members believe that associations are responsible for such cultural differences. And it is observed that 6 members of the remaining participants opined that national enterprises are responsible for such cultural differences in international businesses.16 members said that religious communities are reasonable for the cultural differences that occur in international businesses. The remaining 14 members i.e. 28 % of members expressed their view that social structures responsible for the cultural differences in international businesses.

1.20.2

Data Discussion for research question 2:

Statement 10: Your organization during business expansion adheres to legal and political recognition

Every organisation needs to take care of legal and political recognition. An organisation before expanding its business to a foreign subsidiary, it must analyse all the factors. It must focus on environmental factors, social factors and cultural factors, economic and political factors of the foreign country. It must investigate the market potential by analysing all these factors which influence the business.

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It must first of all analyse the political and legal situations of the foreign country and then have to formulate the mould the business according to the situations. It must have a brief idea about what are the political factors of the country and how to cope up with that.

The researcher asked the participants that Do the organisation adhere the legal and political recognition during its expansion. The participants of the survey expressed their opinions. When observed, out of 50 participants few of them responded similarly and remaining others respondents reacted in a different manner. In total number of participants 6 members i.e,12% of the members only said that the organisations adheres the legal and political recognition during expansion. Whereas 16%of the members said that they partially agree with the statement. It is observed that 23 members from the participants i.e., 46% of the participants remained silent .they said they neither agree nor disagree with the researcher statement and in remaining participants out of 13 members 2 members disagreed and 11 members expressed their strong disagreement.

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Chapter Five
Conclusions, recommendations and limitations
1.21 Conclusions
The main aim of the researcher was to investigate the growth of an organisation internationally through mergers and acquisition and investigate into the impact of culture and values of the organisation in internationalisation of business the culture and values that an organisation possess and need to possess in the context of international business. It becomes very important for the organisations to maintain a culture and values whether it is an international business or other. The subject of organisational culture and its impact on employee performance had been the subject of research interest for many academicians in the past.

The researcher had derived a set of objectives keeping in mind the core aims of the study. Within those objectives, one was to explore on the reasoning behind the internationalisation business operations via the M&A activity. The researcher had collected the data from different sources. One of them was survey. The researcher considered some sample size and posed some statements the researcher had drawn some conclusions from the responses given by the participants of the survey. The researcher concluded saying integration of organisational values plays a vital role in international business from one of the statement. The importance of the integration values and the importance given by the organisation on emotions of the employees in the organisations were also discussed by the researcher.

The researcher tried to find out the organization during business expansion adheres to legal and political recognition or not. The researcher concludes saying organisation needs to take care of legal and political recognition. An organisation before expanding its business to a foreign subsidiary must analyse all the factors. It must focus on environmental factors, social factors, and cultural factors, economic and political factors of the foreign country. It must investigate the market potential by analysing all these factors which influence the business. It must first of all analyse the 69

political and legal situations of the foreign country and then have to formulate the mould the business according to the situations. It must have a brief idea about what are the political factors of the country and how to cope up with that.

The next objective of the research was to inquire into the mergers and acquisitions in UKs fashion industry and on how they are prompting business organisations to follow the internationalisation trend. Therefore, in the light of the research findings, the researcher infers that the M&A activity has been contributing well towards internationalisation of business operations within fashion firms. The research also found out that the M&A activity was not confined to larger business corporations alone, it is significant activity even for the SMEs. For example there has been increasing trend of acquisitions going on within the medical industry wherein bigger hospitals continue to acquire their smaller competitors. There are various instances from the past, in fact some of the giant MNCs today were once small and medium companies which exploited mergers and acquisitions to grow into internationally recognised organisations. Some of the smaller companies even sell parts of their intellectual properties in view of making profitability or to increase their investment potential to expand and venture into new market spaces.

The researchers next objective mentioned was to ascertain the effects of organisational culture and the values of the organisation in the international scenario and with specific focus on its role in the fashion industry. As discussed earlier every organisation has its own culture and values. When we consider about the international businesses it shows more impact on the business. Here, the research concludes that it is imperative for an internationally operating firm to understand the impact of diversified culture and cultural differences between nations in order to maintain proper head officesubsidiary relations. The organisations must understand that they will have to modify their cultural practices as well as slightly modify administrative procedures in order to comply with legal and cultural aspects of the nation the subsidiary is operating from. Therefore, the research also observed that the western management philosophies are incompatible and hence cannot be applied to eastern countries or any other culture for that matter. For example, the culture in China is so different from western philosophy and often MNCs struggle while operating their subsidiaries in China. 70

The researcher had also drawn some research questions to be answered during research. One of them among two was what is the general ideology and motive of organisations in expanding their businesses through mergers and acquisition? To answer this question researcher has collected some literary evidences which are stated in the chapter two the researcher concludes saying that the organisations who want to establish a foreign subsidiary and lacking resources re else or else lack of knowledge on how to globalize or how to enter the international market or else due to some barriers the organisations will consider to internationalise or expand their market through the company that already exists in foreign by merging or by overtaking it. By this the companies have greater advantage. It can avoid the loss of existing in the new market. As the company is already in the market it doesnt have to work hard to make a place in the market. And also it can gain an advantage of macro factors of the foreign country.

The next research question drawn by the researcher was what role does the organisations culture and values play in its strategic growth process and how is it influenced in international business. As discussed earlier, the organisations culture plays a very important role in organisations. Organisational culture has been research subject of interest for many academicians over the past. After researching on the subject of organisational culture, academicians have proposed and devised various conceptual models for gaining insight into the impact of organisational culture on the performance of an organisation. Prominent among them is the conceptual model introduced by Cameron and Quinn which is known as the Competing Values Framework which aims at ascertaining the performance of an organisation basing on its culture. An individuals culture depends on his socio-economic background and interrelated circumstances. The characteristic culture of an individual acts upon his actions invisibly, for example on the individuals social behaviour, interactions, and various other behavioural attributes are impacted by his culture. Often, in literature it was assumed that the western philosophies in management have world wide applicability, however, that is not so. Further one must note that the people of a nation who tend to share common cultural platform and social circumstances have unique set of behavioural characteristics and therefore, the westernised management theories and philosophies fail to suit them. Therefore, there is a need for organisations operating in the international scenario, to come upon this realisation and take into consideration other interrelated issues. 71

1.22 Recommendations:
The foremost recommendation the researcher intends to make is that the organisations must focus more on emotional recognition of individual employees. The employees are the main asset of the organization. Every organization must take care of its employees in every aspect. Another recommendation would be the organization should focus on the political and legal recognition.

While researching on the important aspects in the course of the current study, the researcher had observed some themes clearly emerging out and needed immediate notice. Such themes were focussed upon carefully by the researcher and they proved quite useful and critical for making these recommendations.

It is recommended that the organizations must consider the trust and integrity as integration values. The employees of the organization work effectively and enthusiastically when it believes the employees of the organization and trust them. This leads to the organizational effectiveness and efficiency. And they must follow strategies in order to gain the competitive advantage. While entering any foreign market the organization must take care of the factors and market potential in order to avoid the heavy loss it must have to follow the strategies which are different from the traditional strategies followed in the domestic market. The organization must analyze on the all the aspects of the foreign country that causes the cultural differences in international businesses because of the national institutes like Government laws, Associations, National enterprises, Religious community, Social structure. The researcher has pointed out in the literature review that the organizations do not always gain success through the mergers and acquisition. So, while taking a decision of merging or acquisition, one organization should be should be aware of all the things the fruits as well as thorns in merging or acquisition of a company. It must take utmost care and analyze all the sides of it so as to avoid losses.

The organizational culture and values are considered as a most important factor of the organizations growth. It is suggested that the organizations while adopting any culture or values it must take appropriate care so that it does not affect the employees of 72

the organization. The organization culture shows great impact on the employees. The performance of the employees and the efficiency is also dependent on the organization culture. This can influence the growth of the organization whether internationally or domestically. The culture should be adopted in such a way that it fits the culture of the nation from where the organisations subsidiary is operating. Not only the culture the values of the society where the organization exists must also be considered.

1.23 Limitations
Even though researcher took maximum care possibilities of limitations cannot be ruled out. During the process of research, researcher identified few samples whose perceptions were considered who pointed out more limitations than existing ones. Here researcher presented few limitations which are identified in the course of research. The major things is, only one case study organisation is considered and that too with the specified branch. 90% of the samples were left out i.e. not more than 10% of the representatives are considered. This would be another limitation. For these samples an interview is conducted i.e. semi-structured in-depth interview which consists of few close and open ended questions which can be said that it is also limited. The time given to answer the interview questions is very less i.e. limited time. Researcher stated that, it would help him/her more with more samples, more time for answering interview questions.

In methodology also researcher observed some limitations. First thing in methodology is qualitative approach the followed by the implementation of the strategies in case study and lastly the tool used to analyse the data i.e. thematic analyses tool. Limitations pertaining to the qualitative approach were more concerned rather than the other aspect in methodology. The limited samples, time, questions led the researcher to attain the focal aim of the study as well as objectives, questions to certain extent and which made the researcher to proceed further; researcher still feels unhappy and at later stage felt that large count of samples, many questions, huge time could have helped him/her more which produces good results than expected. There were only few codes and themes derived from literary evidences and are not sufficient to attain the focal aim. Researcher is of the opinion that some important areas were not considered during the

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process of research. More discussions on the data findings and analysis could give the researcher much more scope for further research.

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