Acquired-firm Leaders’ Sensemaking and Sensegiving: A Postcolonial Perspective

Abstract

This study examines how the leaders of firms acquired by emerging Chinese multinationals deal with the challenges of post-acquisition integration into Chinese multinationals from a combined postcolonial sensemaking and sensegiving perspective. In doing so, the paper extends the current understanding of postacquisition integration of Western-based firms into the growing international networks of Chinese acquiring firms beyond the framework of integration and autonomy. Based on an in-depth qualitative comparative analysis, this paper reveals two distinct patterns of meaning-making with respect to acquisitions and engagement in power relations between acquirers and acquirees. From a postcolonial management perspective, both patterns articulate not only the differences between Western-based firms and Chinese acquiring firms but also the process of becoming-the-same of Chinese acquiring firms, reflecting the coexistence of the rising economic power of Chinese acquiring firms over Western-based acquired firms and the discursive power of the latter over the former. Nonetheless, the power dynamics within the integration process paradoxically reproduce binary thinking, Orientalist narratives, and asymmetrical power relations. Arguably, this cannot be achieved without internalizing the postcolonial imaginary in both Chinese and Western firms. However, the postcolonial imaginary is not fixed or stable, leaving room for conflict and negotiation.