How Ego Cost Tsinghua Its Medical School: The Inside Story of a Failed Merger
Tsinghua University wanted a world-class medical school. It set its sights on Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), the crown jewel of Chinese medicine. But the merger failed because PUMC’s brand was stronger than Tsinghua’s in the medical field. This article explores the ego, the miscalculation, and the lesson that specialized prestige often outweighs institutional scale in mergers and acquisitions.