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Introduction

Richard Ettenson and Jonathan Knowles break down in their research Merging the

Brand and Branding the Merger, the various alternatives which organizations and their

management can opt in the context of how to brand, a parent company and its target

company in the event of a merge and acquisition. The merger and acquisition topic has

been of great relevance due to the abundant scope of its literature which includes

strategic management, corporate finance, and organizational behavior literature (Zollo

& Meier, 2008). In additional, M&A represent massive change in the ownership and

control of resources [a] causes and effects ofsubjects of intense interest (Kiymaz,

College, & Baker, 2008) The authors of the research expose that inadequate branding

strategies can:

be a huge blunder [andthat] with no solid brand platform to work from, company integration

will often be mismanaged, and communication to key constituencies will necessarily suffer. In the

worst of situations, the relationship between the two organizations becomes contentious;

promised synergies remain elusive; employees become distrustful and disgruntled; and

customers grow cynical and dissatisfied.(Ettenson & Knowles , 2006)

But, despite the massive amount of research done, there is little or no agreement both

across and within the disciplines on how to measure acquisition performance (Zollo &

Meier, 2008). This fact has open a great debate for the establishment of a theoretical

mothod on how to evaluate acquisition performance. In this research the authors

attempt to stablish a theoretical concept using three key constituences in order to

develop strategies for the successful creation of value on the merge and acquisition of

two companies (Ettenson & Knowles , 2006). They also conclude that the success or

creating value among the merge and acquisition lies not in incremental improvements

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to existing practices but rather in the extension of the due-diligence process to include a

class of assets ( namely, corporate brands) that have hitherto been systematically

overlooked (Ettenson & Knowles , 2006). We do not completely agree with the authors

assumptions parting from the lack of empirical evidense demonstrated in their research.

Merging the Brand and Branding the Merger Overview

For this research, the authors evaluated 207 merger and acquisitions achieved from

1995 to the date of the research (approximately 2006); with valuation transaction that

were greater than $250 million (Ettenson & Knowles , 2006). In addition, for this

investigation the authors established a framework approach which involves key

constituents, and the consequences in these constituents, from management branding

decisions in the event of the merge and acquisition (Ettenson & Knowles , 2006). These

key constituents can be look as the most important components of a companys

stakeholders. The mentioned constituents include the companies: employees,

customers and investors (Ettenson & Knowles , 2006). A reason for this approach which

focus on the companies stakeholders can be that companies attempt to address the

concerns of stakeholders groups, recognizing that failure to do so can have serious

long-term consequences (Ferrell, Thorne , & Ferrell , 2010). This long-term

consequences can result in a useful method for measuring the performance of these

companies. Interviews were made with senior management of the companies

evaluated; this in order to measure the results of the merge and acquisition (Ettenson &

Knowles , 2006).

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