ABSTRACT
This chapter explores acquisitions integration strategies and their impact on entrepreneurial synergies. Electrolux provided suitable cases, as it has experienced a long history in the integration process and the overcoming of cultural clashes. The Zanussi Company began in 1916 as a small workshop of Antonio Zanussi in Pordenone, in the north-east of Italy, producing wood-burning cookers and home stoves. Diamant Boart was established in 1937 and originally developed tools and machines for industrial use, using boart, a low-quality diamond found in mines in the Congo. Electrolux group integration strategies are a product of a learning experience: over 200 acquisitions in 40 countries in 20 years. The use of the integration model was important to clarify the steps taken by Electrolux in trying to put together different groups of people with contrasting cultural backgrounds and, therefore, with high potential for a clash of both corporate and national values.
