Target Autonomy

Definition: Target Autonomy is in mergers and acquisitions the amount of influence the acquirer delegates to the target's managers regarding decisions about the target’s functional activities.
Determining the appropriate level of structural integration is crucial to realizing value from acquisitions. Higher levels of integration imply the removal of autonomy from target managers, which in turn undermines the functioning of the target firm if it entails unfamiliar elements for the acquirer.
It is an important aspect of post-merger integration.

More on target autonomy. More on decision making: Centralization, Chain of Command, Decentralization, Delegation, Employee Empowerment, more...