Leaders of large companies often understand that they need to bring in outside influence and new ideas to remain competitive; that's a good part of why they mak

Leaders of large companies often understand that they need to bring in outside influence and new ideas to remain competitive; that's a good part of why they make acquisitions after all. The issue is - and you'll understand this if you've ever been acquired or have have tried to innovate in a large organization - that large companies are not run by their C-Suite Executives. Large Companies are run by their internal cultures, bureaucracies and departments; often there are several separate instances of these things too. Like all cultures, they are resistant to being changed unless that change comes from within. Given that, acquired companies tend to be mis-matched in trying to contribute what they know. Even if some of the company listens, there are many areas that aren't interested in what they have to say. The best thing that could ever be hoped for in an acquisition is that the acquired company is run as an independent subsidiary, simply required to funnel money to to parent company. Any time the two companies are asked to merge in any real way, the result is inevitably, regardless of how it is done, the loss of the bought entities ideals, culture and business practices is inevitable.