A corporate brand that builds relationships with various stakeholder groups – employees, customers, investors, suppliers, business partners, regulators, the local community, and the broader public – has a significant impact on value creation of a company and represents one of its most valuable intangible assets. In today’s dynamic business environment, mergers and acquisitions represent a significant part of corporate restructuring processes and are among the most common strategic tools for rapid business expansion, with their primary objective being to increase the value of the merged company. Research shows that more than half of all mergers and acquisitions fail to deliver the expected synergistic effects. Due to the high failure rate of mergers and acquisitions deals – failures that cannot be fully explained by established financial and operational indicators – emphasis on the role of intangible capital, including corporate brands, is increasing. A suitable corporate branding strategy during times of organizational change can effectively ensure stability, reduce uncertainty, and – crucially – build trust between the organization and its stakeholders. For corporate branding in mergers and acquisitions to be successful, it is important that the organization maintains a strong focus on the corporate brand throughout all phases of the merger process, approaches corporate branding in an integrative manner, aligns the branding process with its corporate vision, and makes corporate brand integration decisions strategically – at the highest level of decision-making. In doing so, it can significantly increase the value of the merged company.
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