How Do Actors Strategically Manage the Unbundling of Complex Interdependencies During the Organisational Separation Process?

Abstract

“The number of divestiture transactions represents a surprisingly large percentage of all mergers and acquisitions” (Gole & Hilger, 2008, p. xi) yet it remains undertheorized (Wiedner & Mantere, 2019). This research addresses the single-use case study (Yin, 2009) of the divestment and separation of the Italian stock exchange, Borsa Italiana Group (Borsa) from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) by employing an inductive based theory approach, following the principles of grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006) with the aim to answer: How do Actors strategically manage the unbundling of complex interdependencies during the organisational separation process? To date there are no case studies which document firstly, the distinction between a divestment and a separation of entities, the practice of separation and its associated processes and the involvement of key business functions within a stock exchange. Secondly, the importance of sensemaking and coping during a separation, and how those separation actors were dynamically assembled to resolve many of the complexities arising in the separation programme. Thirdly, this thesis aims to advance the literature on divestitures and separations creating a link between risk management, and how a separation programme searches for and identifies risks, by using four key sights: foresight, insight, oversight and hindsight. These emergent findings shed new light on complexities the separation programmes face. By combining historical, qualitative and real-time information from over 14 months in the field, this thesis makes three key theoretical contributions to the literature on Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), specifically divestitures, separations, sensemaking, coping, and risk management.