Agility in Mergers and Acquisitions: Redefining Business Model Transformation in the Digital Era

Post-merger integration has traditionally been approached as a problem of structural alignment and coordination. In digital-intensive environments, however, this perspective provides limited insight into how organizations sustain transformation beyond initial consolidation. This study examines how organizational agility supports learning and renewal in contexts of repeated mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Using a qualitative case study of a Greek IT firm that implemented multiple acquisitions between 2019 and 2024, the research explores how learning, adaptation, and innovation interact during post-merger transformation. Data were collected through document analysis, executive interviews, public sources, and long-term observation, and analyzed through an iterative interpretive process. The findings indicate that successful post-merger transformation depends less on formal integration and more on the organization’s ability to convert integration into an ongoing learning process. Agility emerges as a key enabling mechanism that links strategic orientation, organizational coordination, and technological recombination over time. Based on these insights, the study proposes the Agility-Transformation Framework, which conceptualizes post-merger transformation as a cyclical process connecting learning, adaptation, and innovation across successive integration phases. The study contributes to research on organizational change and dynamic capabilities by clarifying the role of agility in post-merger contexts. Practically, it offers a conceptual lens for organizations seeking to maintain coherence and adaptability during complex transformation processes.