Cambridge Network: Study examines cultural fit in big pharma integration

Piyush Durani, an Executive MBA graduate of Cambridge Judge (EMBA 2018), measures cultural fit in the $74 billion merger of Bristol-Myers Squibb and Celgene. “As I progressed through my EMBA programme in 2018-2019, the BMS acquisition of Celgene was announced in January 2019 and I was interested in understanding what could be the factors that would make this a success or failure given that a number of articles I read at the time highlighted the high failure rate for M&A,” says Piyush.

“I thought that such an empirical study was a great idea: most companies ignore this issue because they don’t know how to approach it scientifically as intangibles are hard to quantify,” says Professor Kor, Beckwith Professor of Management Studies at Cambridge Judge. “It’s better to run a study to diagnose the cultural attributes in both companies, map these, and see the diverging and converging points, rather than to make superficial assumptions about the fit.”

Read the full article [cambridgenetwork.co.uk]