Integrating the IS functions after mergers and acquisitions: Analyzing business-IT alignment

•We examine 22 mergers and acquisitions to examine business-IS strategies employed.•M&A outcomes are successful when strategies are aligned and not aligned.•M&A often uses emergent strategy formation, not normative strategy formation.

This exploratory positivist case study uses multiple case design to examine the impacts of strategic alignment during the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) process and the implications for strategic formulation of successful M&A outcomes. According to alignment theory, for a firm to achieve M&A integration success, the business-IS strategies should be aligned during the M&A execution. However, our results indicate that successful, non-aligned M&A integrations can also occur, strongly supporting the emergent perspective of strategy formation in M&A integration as a valuable addition to the a priori formal planning view of strategy formation.