A transformação cultural no processo de aquisição de empresas relacionadas do setor siderúrgico

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to describe the influence cultural formation has on the process of acquisition of companies associated with the syderurgic sector, by taking as a parameter the process involved in the acquisition of COSIPA Companhia Siderúrgica Paulista by USIMINAS Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas Gerais. In order to analyse how the consolidation and absorption of culture occurred for the acquiring and acquired companies, concepts of parent culture and receives culture were adopted, based on the theoretical structure conceived byRODRIGUES (1991). Parent culture can be understood as the culture that gave birth to the present culture, represented by those regarded as leaders and constructors of the basic cultural concepts. Received culture can be understood as the culture that receives the parent culture, eitherabsorbing it as a whole or partially, or imposing an identity withdrawn from the basis of the culture transmitted by past generations. The agents of the received culture are represented by presidents, directors, managers and technicians. Understanding how the received culture absorbs the values, practices, rituals and symbols of the parent culture in each organisation has led to the clarification of factors that can contribute to stabilise or destabilise the integration of the companies after the acquisition process. In order to investigate how the organisational cultures developed and amalgamated, the methodological tool used was the verbal history. This methodology allowed the assessment of the events and verbal narratives which were present, in a longitudinal historic line, in the establishment and union of the organisations. The analysis of the dynamics involved in the meeting of the two cultures was conducted based on the cultural dimension structure proposed by MARTIN (1995), which envelops the perspectives of Integration, Differentiation and Fragmentation. The use of such approaches, and taking into account the cultural context within which the two syderugic companies were established, paved the way for a number of considerations to be made. Integration can be understood as the movements that pointed to a consensus around the proposals the acquiring group made regardingdirection. The Differentiation perspective allowed us to check the different positions of the organisational groups or subcultures concerning values, transfer of practices, and the models proposed for change. The Fragmentation enabled us to assess ambiguous positions and amultiplicity of ways the workers interpreted the acquisition itself. The conclusion was that, just as understanding the cultural formation of the organisations under acquisition process can lead to an easier integration after the purchase negotiations, the meanings stemming from the different ways subcultures and individuals interpret the event reveal important insights to the studies of cultural studies in acquisitions.