INTEGRATION MANAGERS’ VALUE-CAPTURING ROLES AND ACQUISITION PERFORMANCE SATU TEERIKANGAS, PHILIPPE VÉRY, AND VINCENZO PISANO Although the significance of managing the acquisition process is acknowledged, little evidence exists as to the ways in which managerial action throughout this process impacts acquisition performance. In this arti- cle, the researchers draw attention to the central, yet largely neglected figure responsible for implementing mergers and acquisitions (M&A), namely “the integration manager.” Drawing from an extensive study of nine related, friendly acquisitions involving 166 interviews, the authors find that integra- tion managers affect acquisition performance by capturing value derived from (a) the preacquisition phase, (b) the acquiring firm, and (c) the acquired firm. Through their in/action, integration managers affect two sources of economic performance: the extent of additional value created and the ex- tent of value leaked. The findings contribute to enriching our knowledge of managing the acquisition process and are a call for more actor-based, micro- level studies on the ways in which managing the acquisition process and the actors therein affect acquisition performance. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Keywords: integration manager, M&A, acquisition, M&A performance, acquisition performance, acquisition process Introduction W i th a gradual start in the mid-19th century, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have become established as one of the primary strategic options for companies as they seek to secure positioning within an ever more competitive and global market place (Kolev, Haleblian, & McNamara, in press). Despite the managerial prevalence of M&A as strategic moves, research continues to point to their prevailing high failure rates (King, Dalton, Daily, & Covin, 2004; Papadakis & Thanos, 2010; Schoenberg, 2006; Zollo & Meier, 2008). This begs the question—how can M&A be made to succeed? This central question in M&A research is not answered easily. Despite decades of ample research efforts (Haleblian, Devers, McNa- mara, Carpenter, & Davison, 2009), a recent meta-analysis of existing M&A performance studies concluded that research has still not captured the underlying causes of M&A Correspondence to: Satu Teerikangas, Lecturer, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7HB, United Kingdom, Phone: +44-(0)20-7679 3219, Fax: +44-(0)20-7679 4837, E-mail: s.teerikangas@ ucl.ac.uk Human Resource Management, Human Resource Management, September–October 2011, Vol. 50, No. 5, Pp. 651 –683 © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI:10.1002/hrm.20453