In 1995, at a turning point in the history of the bearings industry, the Timken Company acquires a high-volume bearings plant in Poland. Minor differences from Timken's traditional technology and products assume major importance as the acquisition is integrated, leading to fundamental shifts in the company's value proposition and organization.
The cases illustrate the emergence of corporate strategy not from the top, but from middle executive ranks. They also show how an acquisition may change the parent company (and not the reverse). Finally, the cases show how companies learn from distant and different places, in particular when the learning is strategic and disruptive.
- Timken
- Timken Polska
- Bearings
- Steel
- Change management
- Organisational change
- Mergers & acquisitions (M&A)
- Organisational learning
