Success of International M&As: The case of adidas' acquisition of Reebok

This case study describes how adidas, one of the biggest companies in the sporting goods industry, managed the process of acquiring Reebok and how it deals with the on-going post-merger-integration. In the last few decades, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have gained in strategic importance as a means of external company growth. Given the high economical impact of the increasing number and volume of transactions, it is alarming that more than 50% of all analysed transactions failed or did not lead to their expected results. The failure of most acquisitions may be the result of a number of factors. In this case two problems associated with the integration process itself are identified: (1) there is evidence that human (eg, cultural) factors are seldom recognised as part of the problem, as top managers are mainly concerned with the financial and strategic aspects of a merger; and (2) the little attention that is paid to the soft aspects of the transition, such as human resource issues (eg, intercultural training) and the development of a new company culture. In this case study several management efforts can be identified that were implemented by the management in order to make things better during the integration process with Reebok.