Making Culture Work During M&A
Mergers and acquisitions create atmospheres of intensity and urgency, with leaders from both organizations laser-focused on financials. You must anticipate and plan for the merging of two cultures.

How do I maintain culture when merging two companies during M&A?
Plan for Culture Clash
- Locate and focus on the areas where the most commonality exists between two corporate cultures
- Craft strategic cultural alignment — not a “wait & see” approach
Create New Beliefs
- The merger and acquisition creates a host of new experiences for your people
- Draft new, shared beliefs based on the results you need: employee retention and other key results
- Sustain a corporate culture of shared beliefs
Own the Story
- Having a core story that motivates the merged workforce (and doesn’t sound like a PR pitch) – during and after M&A can be the seed for a new season of accountability and process change
How Cardiac Pacemakers Thrived After Acquisition
Problem
Following its acquisition by one of the foremost global pharmaceutical companies, Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc. saw innovation at other companies surpassing it— and had no product in development to overtake the competition.
Solution
CPI brought in Culture Partners and introduced the Culture Journey – a comprehensive, three-year process to shift their culture. Leadership identified and determined the company’s cultural beliefs and set key results including moving from a 4-year to an 18-month development cycle.
Outcome
By activating their culture to drive results, Cardiac Pacemakers developed 14 new products in 14 months, doubled their annual sales, and saw a 9x increase in stock price.

Did You Know?
Seven of the ten biggest M&A deals of the last decade (measured by asset size) were announced in the last two years, according to the Financial Brand.
revenue from healthcare M&A activity in the second quarter of 2022 broke the record, according to KPMG.
of executives surveyed in a 2022 Deloitte study expect M&A volume to increase or stay the same in the coming year.
of corporate mergers and acquisitions fail to achieve investor expectations.
GROWTH POINT
A new intentional culture of shared beliefs will stabilize M&A.
Thrive through the culture build by creating positive experiences and alignment.