Global Ambitions and Local Identities

Book excerpt: Until recently, international mergers of companies have been seen as purely financial ventures without any concern for what they meant for the people involved. However, attitudes are gradually changing. This study of a successful Israeli high-tech company's merger with an American competitor offers an important contribution to a better understanding of the social and personal ramifications of mergers. Based upon in-depth fieldwork, the book explores the reality behind the statistics, balance sheets, and managerial prescriptions that are the focus of most studies of international mergers and acquisitions. Offering a richly detailed description of everyday work life, the author reveals the dramas of identity that unfold as a consequence of the company's attempts to redefine the boundaries of the organizational collective by adding to it people from another country. The book debunks many myths used to support arguments both for and against globalization and offers instead an in-depth depiction and a grounded assessment of its everyday realities.