Abstract
This paper takes a process perspective on post-merger integration in professional service firms. Based on a longitudinal study of a merger between two consulting companies, it is suggested that the management of differences plays an important role in shaping the post-merger integration process. Four different ways of managing differences are identified in the four phases of the post-merger process. The interplay between the integration process, the ideational context and the economic environment explain the transition from one phase to another, suggesting that post-merger integration processes in professional service firms are highly context-sensitive. It is also suggested that post-merger integration processes need to be understood as an emerging interplay bet-ween the internal dynamics of the integration process and the external dynamics of the economic and ideational environment of the merger.