Organizational Integration of Acquired Biotechnology Companies into Pharmaceutical Companies: The Need for a Hybrid Approach

This analysis of the postacquisition integration of biotechnology companies by pharmaceutical companies addresses new issues in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and includes five in-depth case studies. The guiding research question is how a biotech company is integrated into a pharmaceutical company seeking access to the biotech company's know-how, technologies, and innovative capabilities. I conclude that given the complexity and multifaceted nature of mergers and acquisitions, pharmaceutical companies need to apply a hybrid postacquisition integration approach with simultaneous short- and long-term motives/orientations and segmentation at a different pace across different value chain components.