The processes involved with mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are many, varied and complex. M&A research and practice needs a toolset that can apprehend that complexity and suggest ways forward. This paper shows the complexity of the constituents of organizations at a strategic level by building on the natural-resource-based view (NRBV) and the resulting competences and capabilities. In M&As, these resources and capabilities are managed through a variety of forms of acquisition integration comprised of sets of integration mechanisms. M&As occur in a range of strategic contexts and consequently many forms of integration are possible. Accordingly, there is a need for a mode of inquiry examining acquisition integration that can encompass a wide variety of forms, is holistic across a range of possible integration mechanisms and can provide insights. A configurational mode of inquiry can accommodate the complexity of the mechanisms, capabilities and resources, including natural resources, which constitute acquisition integration. A configurational approach emphasizes a holistic synthesis of elements and highlights the importance of thinking of M&As in terms of patterns. A configurational approach offers tools for considering M&As such as analyzing the thematic coherence of integration and enables the inclusion of sustainability into the logic of organizations.

Companies are confronted with increasingly demanding environments, including globalization, technologization, intergenerationality, and crises such as the coronavirus pandemic. To accept uncertainties as a challenge and to recognize opportunities for development, well-educated and resilient founders are needed who can foster innovation and sustainable development within society and the economy. The majority of today’s entrepreneurs have an academic background. Hence, institutions for higher education need to provide comprehensive educational offerings and support initiatives to train and sensitize future entrepreneurs. Therefore, since 2013, agile teaching formats have been developed in our project at a Bavarian university of applied sciences. In two stages, we founded a limited company for hands-on experimentation with entrepreneurship and also conceptualized an elective course and an annual founders’ night. Based on a theoretical model and continuous teaching evaluations, we adjusted the individual modules to suit the target group. The objective is to promote the acquisition of key competencies and exert a positive influence on the startup quotient in the region. There are six startups by students who can be traced back to our project. This indicates that a target-group-oriented educational program encourages motivation and awareness of entrepreneurial thinking and action among students.

Climate adaptation supports organizations in dealing with the current and projected effects of climate change by recognizing challenges as opportunities and increasing their economic efficiency. Based on the regional climate model REMO and 13 expert interviews with representatives from mainly manufacturing companies analyzed by the Grounded Theory methodology, this contribution aims to outline actual and future challenges of climate adaptation in the investigated region. We analyze how manufacturing companies respond to climate change and assess the main promoters and barriers of organizational learning in the context of climate adaptation. The expert interviews confirm the importance for companies of having a concrete business case for any strategies and of increasingly making their processes and manufacturing more transparent, through supply chain assessments. In accordance, a focus on strategic management levels is crucial for organizational learning processes as they are responsible for development, mobilization of resources and realization of adaptation concepts.

Climate adaptation and learning support organizations in dealing with the current and projected consequences of climate change by recognizing challenges as opportunities, ensuring business continuity and increasing their economic efficiency. Here it applies that those actors who deal with their existing framework conditions, opportunities and risks at an early stage, and also have structures or capacities for strategic learning processes, increase their climate resilience and reduce their vulnerability to negative impacts. A cumulative doctoral thesis analyze to what extent companies already have climate-related structures conducive to learning, to what extent they take responsibility in terms of the learning object (climate change), and which elements prove to be limiting here. The results illustrate that intangible resources such as a sense of responsibility, executives positive attitude and common values have a significant influence on the way companies deal with climate change. Based on these findings, a serious game will be developed and its didactic effectiveness reflected critically to raise the climate-related awareness of decision-makers and to enable them to derive their own adaptation measures.

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