Justification, Legitimization and Naturalization of Mergers and Acquisitions: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Media Texts

This article concentrates on the discursive construction of mergers and acquisitions in the media. Drawing on critical discourse analysis, the article focuses on justification, legitimization and naturalization processes in three historically significant cases in the Finnish media. The analysis reve...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inOrganization (London, England) Vol. 9; no. 2; pp. 275 - 304
Main Authors Vaara, Eero, Tienari, Janne
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Thousand Oaks, CA SAGE Publications 01.05.2002
Subjects
Discourse
Discourse Analysis
Discursive Practices
Explanation
Finland
Legitimacy
Management
Management attitudes
Mass Media
Media
Mergers
Naturalization
Organization theory
Rationalism
Rationality
naturalization
legitimation/legitimization
acquisition
discourse
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Summary:This article concentrates on the discursive construction of mergers and acquisitions in the media. Drawing on critical discourse analysis, the article focuses on justification, legitimization and naturalization processes in three historically significant cases in the Finnish media. The analysis reveals four distinctive discourse types- `rationalistic', `cultural', `societal' and `individualistic'-and elaborates their structural characteristics. The analysis shows that rationalistic discourses typically dominate discussion, while the other discourses are subordinated to the rationalistic discursive practices. This usually means justification of particular merger or acquisition deals and legitimization of specific actions taken by management. In the longer run, this is likely to lead to naturalization of specific management practices in the mergers and acquisitions context.
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ISSN:1350-5084
1461-7323
DOI:10.1177/1350508402009002912