Supply chain issues in mergers and acquisitions: a case from Indian aviation industry

This paper aims at understanding the importance of supply chain integration in mergers and acquisitions (M%A) with a focus on the aviation industry. A comprehensive literature review is followed by the case of a merger from the Indian aviation industry. Managers who were involved with the task of M%A in their organisations were interviewed for this research. It is observed that apart from concentrating on the long-term financial and marketing synergies, it is also important to give due consideration to the supply chain synergies at every stage of the M%A process. The supply chain of the new organisation should pick up the best characteristics from each of the value chains of the merging entities. An early involvement of supply chain managers in merger process may help in identifying the potential operational synergies. Based on the literature and experiences of the merged entities it is observed that the results of mergers and acquisitions will go on the expected lines only by the early involvement of supply chain leadership in pre-merger talks and later by proper restructuring of the supply chain of the new organisation.