Better Together?

Abstract

This case study focuses on a large-scale change faced by SOMOS, the largest K-12 educational platform in Brazil. In 2015, the company acquired Saraiva, a traditional family-owned publishing house with a strong portfolio of services in the K-12 sector as well as a significant share of the higher education market sector. The authors have chosen an episodic narrative to describe two relevant events within organizational change. Six episodes of change were presented, each focusing on specific and related points. They document and map the process of integration of the two organizations, describing the main challenges, critical milestones, and outcomes from each episode. They reflect on whether the evidence-based approach, used to develop the organizational change interventions, was successful in bringing people together during this critical transition.