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Human Relations, Vol. 56, No. 4, 419-451 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0018726703056004002

The International Match: Metaphors as Vehicles of Social Identity-Building in Cross-Border Mergers

Eero Vaara

Janne Tienari

Risto Säntti

This article focuses on cultural identity-building in the cross-border merger context. To provide an alternative to the dominant essentialist analyses of cultures and cultural differences, cultural identity-building is conceptualized as a metaphoric process. The focus is on two processes inherent in the cross-border merger context: construction of images of Us and Them and construction of images of a Common Future. Based on an analysis of a special metaphor exercise carried out in a recent Finnish-Swedish merger, the article illustrates how the metaphoric perspective reveals specific cognitive, emotional and political aspects of cultural identity-building that easily remain `hidden' in the case of more traditional approaches.

Key Words: culture • identity • merger • metaphor


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