Molson versus Kaiser: A Case of Unsuccessful Acquisition

Informações

Código: EPQ1048
Divisão: EPQ - Ensino e Pesquisa em Administração e Contabilidade
Tema de Interesse: EPQ-A - Ensino e Pesquisa em Administração

Autores

Ilan Avrichir, Victor Manoel Cunha de Almeida

Resumo

Intended to be used in International Business graduate or undergraduate courses, the teachingcase Molson vs Kaiser describes the unsuccessful acquisition of Brazilian Kaiser beerproducer by the Canadian brewer Molson. It confronts the students with the problems thatMolson incurred when it hired executives from a Brazilian competitor. The literature onmergers and acquisitions has since long attributed to the lack of cross cultural competence,parochialism and ethnocentrism much of the blame for the failures of multinationalcompanies when they try to diversify geographically. A common recommendation on how toperform better abroad is to avoid bringing in people from headquarters and prefer localmanagers who supposedly are more knowledgeable of the host country institutions andbehaviors. As national cultures are far from uniform and organizational culture can varydramatically from one company to another, the acquiring company can end up incurring inmore difficulties by hiring locals than if they had managed the acquired company themselves.So, the present case offers to the students an opportunity to discuss this issue that has beenoverlooked in the research and brings in a counterpoint to the literature that tends to blameethnocentrism and ethnocentric Human Resource policies for the failures in acquisitions.

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