ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses intercultural conflicts in the context of global M&A (Merger & Acquisition) and explores possible intercultural issues in an attempted merger of India’s Apollo and U.S. Cooper Tire which has a joint-venture partner, Chinese Chengshan Group. The case ended with Cooper officially terminating its planned sale to India’s Apollo signaling the failure of the acquisition. Miscommunication and intercultural conflicts are noted as two likely factors with a role in this 2.5-billion deal that devolved into a court battle. This case study looks into the communications that took place at different stages of the acquisition (initial negotiation, intensive negotiation, court battle, and cessation of the negotiation) and analyzes conflicts in the process between three parties from different cultural backgrounds. By examining the ways cultural differences and miscommunications may have resulted in the conflicts at the individual, organizational, and societal levels, and how three business parties perceived and reacted to related conflicts, we hope to gain an in-depth understanding of the process, the dynamics of intercultural interactions, and the evolution of the conflict in the course of a global acquisition case, in order to provide practical suggestions about the management of multinational corporations in cross-cultural business negotiations in the M&A context.
