Innovating and Internationalizing a New Organizational Identity: The Metamorphosis of an EMNC

Abstract

In this paper, we study the organizational identity transformation of an emerging market acquirer making multiple acquisitions. Drawing on ethnographic interviews of top managers and analysis of transactions from an acquisitions database, we examine the postacquisition integration and innovation strategies of an E-MNC serial acquirer from the Arabian Gulf. We find the organizational identity transformation to be threefold–international, technological and reputational–and related to the refinement and propagation of a new business model centered on innovation competences. We conclude that the serial acquisitions and integration were (1) changing in nature over time and (2) sufficiently profound as to trigger a worldwide rebranding and fundamentally revised value proposition. Our study enhances understanding of innovation, expansion and internationalization from emerging markets by proposing a metamorphosis perspective for mergers and acquisitions emanating from a region of the world relatively less-examined yet nevertheless of central economic importance from a global geopolitical resources perspective.