4. Put downs. The culture clash reaches full height as the partner company is put
down as inferior. “We” becomes the superior culture and “they” are denigrated.
The “innovators” in one acquired firm put down their parent company managers
as “pants pressers” who were more concerned with neatness than running an repreneurial business. In turn, the “seasoned hands” at the parent company felt obliged to teach the “greenhorns” in the entrepreneurial shop a thing or two about running a “real” business.