Fusionen Telia/Telenor och TeliaSonera : Vad hände?

by Al-Mehr, Eliane; Halef, Siros

On a market that is defined as hard competitive are merger acquisitions a way for companies to strengthen their position on the market. A fusion means that two or a several companies becomes one by joining together to achieve competitive advantages against other participants on the same market. This is not an easy thing to do. This could mean difficulties that the thing you try to create through a new organisational combination is a whole new cultural organisational network. Cultural collisions, new working conditions and assignments is what to expect. One of the factors which can contribute to that fusions between companies in different countries fails can be that policy and business world don’t match. When this kind of state of conflict happens, it’s almost impossible to pass up the ideological oppositions to the future. This study is focusing on to identify the factors that had affection on the starting point for the hypothetical merger between the Swedish Telia and the Norwegian Telenor, and also the merger TeliaSonera. Further on is to respond to the factors that could have made it easy and rend possible the fusion between Telia and Telenor. In addition is to study and to compare the first mentioned fusion (Telia/Telenor) with the fusion between Telia and Finnish Sonera. This, to show what could have been done different under the negotiations for an agreement with Sonera. This is going to be investigated by reading articles that were written at the time of the fusion took place. Further on is to have interviews with persons that have knowledge and experience from the two occurrences. The persons who was interviewed was; Lars-Johan Cederlund, Director from the Swedish economic ministry in Stockholm, Brita- Lena Ekström, a former economic reporter at the Dagens Nyheter in Stockholm, Ulf Bäckman, a former spokeman for the Swedish Telia. Further on have two e-mail interviews been done with Roar Valderhaug, Norwegian journalist at the Aftenposten and Gunnel Jonsson, working with corporate communications at TeliaSonera in Stockholm. The questions that have been the base for the interviews has a connection to the theories Corporate governance, learning, leadership, communication, vision and culture. The result of the study is that essential factors like cultural differences on a business level made it impossible for the two companies Telia and Telenor to continue the negotiation. Another factor tha also made it impossible was that there were very strong personalities involved. The fusion between Telia and Sonera went good, which indicate that the Telia had learned its lesson from their former mistakes with Telenor.