Managing Mergers and Acquisitions

Learning outcomes
The course provides the students with an up-to-date understanding of theories and practices of M&A that will help them to understand the nature of M&As and plan and implement post-merger integration successfully. Upon completing the course, the students should be able to: 

1.    Understand the challenges that organizational members involved in mergers and acquisitions are confronted with;
2.    Analyze the M&A process with its challenges and dilemmas from different theoretical angles; 
3.    Learn to develop an integration plan for M&As that would allow maximizing strategic synergies, while minimizing cultural challenges and risks;
4.    Be able to assess and manage the complex dynamics in unfolding M&A integration.

Content
The course offers a theoretically grounded and practically relevant overview of the key themes in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) and specifically in post-merger integration (PMI). Building upon a theoretical understanding of organizational changes and M&A-specific concepts and frameworks, the course concentrates on the various problems and challenges in M&A and PMI. These include strategic integration and synergies, cultural challenges, identity-building, cognitive and emotional dynamics of inter-firm collaboration, politics, communication and learning.

Teacher
 Sami Itani

Study material
 A reading package consisting of academic and popular articles.

Online learning environment for the course & Activating Aalto ID

MyCourses online learning environment is a tool for both students and teachers for communication and managing everyday course work. You need an Aalto User ID to log in to the course's MyCourses workspace and participate in teaching. You can activate your Aalto User ID the day after the registration and you should activate it no later than the day before the start of the course. Instructions for activating your Aalto User IDDigital workspace of the course:
MyCourses 

More details on completing the course will be available at MyCourses closer to the start of the course.

Workload
Contact teaching      30h
Independent work    130h
Total                       160h (6 ECTS)

Prerequisites
Completing basic course on strategic management before this advanced level course is recommended. 

Evaluation
Assignments 100%
 

Teaching time and location

The teaching time and the location of the course can be found at Sisu information system

1. The link leads to Completion methods tab of the course page  
2. From the top of the page (Version drop-down menu), check that academic year 2023-2024 is selected  

3. From the blue bar, click Lecture and open the Groups and teaching times tabto see the teaching time and the location of the course. Exam times can be seen by clicking Exam.
    

   Exam instructions at the Open University

Registration and course fee

Registration for Open University courses is done in Sisu-service. 

Course registration 

Registration for this course starts on 25.3.2024 at 9.00  
Registration for this course ends on 15.4.2024 at 23.59

The number of participants is limited to 5.

This course is organized by the Aalto University School of Business.

The course fee is paid upon registration for each course at a time and it is binding. Familiarize yourself with registration and payment rules as well as other guidelines for students:
Registration, payments and rulesAccess Token on Aalto University Campus

To be able to enter campus premises and classrooms you need the student access token of Aalto University. You can get the student access token from campus lobby services. The access token need to be activated with your Aalto account and password before you can use it. Please, arrive the campus well in advance before your first class so that you can make the access token work. Please, see the instructions how to get and activate the access token: How to get an access tokenOtaniemi Campus, Espoo: Campus map

Individual study arrangements

If you need individual study arrangements in order to attend a course, contact the Open University office ([email protected]) in good time, at least 14 days before the start date of the course or the examination date. Further information about individual study arrangements:
Individual study arrangements at Open University