List of figures List of tables Notes on contributors 1 Mergers and acquisitions in practice: a state-of-art and future directions Shlomo Y. Tarba, Sir Cary L. Cooper, Riikka M. Sarala, and Mohammad F. Ahammad 2 Motives for European mergers and acquisitions: analysis of pre-merger press announcements and post-merger interviews Agyenim Boateng, George Lordofos, and Keith W. Glaister 3 Motives for cross-border mergers and acquisitions: perspective of UK firms Mohammad F. Ahammad, Shlomo Y. Tarba, Keith W.

Glaister, Ian P. L. Kwan, Riikka M. Sarala, and Luiz Montanheiro 4 Strategic mergers in the public sector: comparing universities and hospitals Rómulo Pinheiro, Timo Aarrevaara, Laila Nordstrand Berg, Lars Geschwind, and Dag Olaf Torjesen 5 Chinese cross-border M&A into industrialized countries: the case of Chinese acquisitions in Germany Marina Schmitz, Fabian Jintae Froese, and Winno V. Wangenheim 6 Post-merger integration in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries: a practical approach Lars Schweizer 7 Human resource management in the context of mergers and acquisitions Fang Lee Cooke 8 The role of human resource management practices in mergers and acquisitions Sut I Wong, Elizabeth Solberg, Paulina Junni, and Steffen Robert Giessner 9 How do communication and cultural differences explain post-merger identification? Evidence from two merged dairy firms David Kroon 10 Multiple shared identities in cross-border M&As Anna Lupina-Wegener and Rolf van Dick 11 The link between cultural due diligence and sociocultural post-merger integration management as a critical success factor in M&As Natalie Witzmann and Christoph Dörrenbächer 12 Acquisition in the banking sector in the transition process to the market economy Ruth Alas, Tiit Elenurm, Tiiu Allikmäe, and Riina Varts 13 Does acquisition experience matter? From yes or no to why, when, and how Florian Bauer, Andreas Strobl, and Kurt Matzler 14 Strategic alliances in the organizational and financial literatures: a review Ian P. L. Kwan Index.