The role of product management in the success of mergers and acquisitions : analyzing Eaton's 2008 Phoenixtec Power Company Ltd. acquisition

Mergers and acquisitions are important ways for multinational companies to expand and grow their business. This thesis studies the role of product management in the success of mergers and acquisitions by analyzing Eaton's 2008 Phoenixtec Power Company Ltd. acquisition. Using public information, market reports, internal documents and insider interviews, I explore four components of product management in the integration process, including product portfolio management, sales and marketing reorganizations, channel integration and brand architecture. For each component, the objectives of the integration, the methodology used by Eaton and the outcomes are examined. Moreover, the performance of the merged company in terms of sales revenue, profitability, market share, customer satisfaction and employee engagement are analyzed to demonstrate the overall success of this acquisition. My thesis ends with findings and recommendations for building a standard framework to align activities with strategic drivers, maintaining competitive advantages of the acquired company, leveraging the acquired resources to enhance overall capabilities, and respecting and motivating individual talent with local know-how.

Department dc:contributor.department

Sloan School of Management.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Ren, Lijuan, S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Sharmila C. Chatterjee.

• Sloan School of Management.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/80689

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/80689