Barriers in post-merger integration in the real estate development companies in the United Arab Emirates: An AHP approach

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore various challenges a real estate development company may face during post-merger integration. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has been used to prioritize the barriers linked to mergers in the real estate companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). An AHP model was developed with 5 criteria and 29 sub-criteria based on the previous literature. Data were collected through interviews of 6 experts who were involved in the merger process of 2 major real estate development companies in the UAE. The data collected were interpreted and a priority vector was assigned to each criterion and sub-criterion. The findings reveal that strategy, business plan and budget followed by the training are the key challenges that is encountered during the post-merger in the UAE based real estate companies. Results are derived from a limited amount of empirical data only in one country; therefore, these cannot be generalized. This study provides an important technique for analyzing the barriers linked to mergers in real estate development companies which are considered as one of the economic engine of the UAE.