It almost looks like the culture is the competitive advantage, and everything else follows. No market and technology synergies are important enough to risk the

It almost looks like the culture is the competitive advantage, and everything else follows. No market and technology synergies are important enough to risk the destruction of that culture in a merger. (Alternatively, all the upper and middle management of the acquired company has to be honorably discharged, and the remaining employees are to spend several months training in the new culture. A pretty hard sell for most mergers.)