In 1987, two European rivals--Asea AB of Sweden and BBC Brown Boveri Ltd. of Switzerland--merged to form Asea Brown Boveri. The new company employed 150,000 employees in 850 legal entities operating in 140 countries. The case describes the challenges facing Percy Barnevik--the organization's leader--and how he resolved those challenges through staffing, communicating priorities, new structural alignments, and information and reporting systems. May be used with: (9-394-016) ABB's Relays Business: Building and Managing a Global Matrix; (9-192-140) Asea Brown Boveri: The ABACUS System; (78303) Problems of Matrix Organizations.