The Impact of Cross-Border Mergers on the Co-Decision-Making Process: The Case of a Danish Company

The present article investigates changes over time in the patterns of co-decision-making in a Danish multinational company that has grown through cross-border mergers and acquisitions. The findings show the difficulties that trade union representatives and management face when firms try to introduce a governance regime based on shareholder value ideology. The Danish tradition of cooperation between management and labour was especially affected, since the changes in co-decision-making processes destroyed more than top management understood or realized. The article argues that hybrid forms of governance are unlikely to emerge due to historically embedded governance institutions, which create distinct expectations about how a firm must be governed and who has the right to participate in this governance. The spread of the Anglo-Saxon model of governance in Europe is likely to have negative effects on co-decision-making processes and established patterns of organizational cooperation.