Although values are a popular
topic in organisational literature, often organisational value statements
remain hollow words. Therefore the main purpose of this paper is to explore the
appearance of values in practice.  This
study analyses How can value
socialisation facilitate post-acquisition integration?  We define value socialisation as the attempts
of an organisation to implant the organisational values into the employees. Such
attempts are well illustrated in our case company in which the main element of
post-acquisition integration is the creation of a new joint culture through
shared values. The case company has progressed in value socialisation fairly
well, succeeding to find wide acceptance and familiarisation of the values among
the employees both at the acquiring and acquired company. However, we find that
employee perceptions of value enactment and cultural differences between the
acquirer and acquired company can hinder the process. Nevertheless, we suggest
that value socialisation can facilitate integration through offering a way of introducing
new, shared values to employees. Based on our findings, we conclude that value
socialisation following cross-border M&As includes three steps:
establishment and announcement of the values, dissemination of the new values
through organisational learning initiatives, and following up on progress and
making adjustments if necessary.