...Marriages as mergers/takeovers....

A bit funny though but has lotssa parallels to be drawn. Marriages may be viewed in the same light as that of the mergers/takeovers.... they are union of different individuals/entities.

R,C, Culture, and Org...are imp in a merger situation. Same must be applicable for marriages. Revenues must go up...(both partners earnings are aggregated) , costs must go down (economies of scale via sharing resources such as house, etc), culture must match to the extent that there are no frequent awkward instances. Last but not the least, org....compatibility with partner in terms of complementary personalities (based on MBTI...Myers Briggs Type Indicator test). If both are ENTJ, it may not work out.

Anything violating this may sabotage the possibility for the best possible relationship. If it is getting too late, one may think of compromising on a few and obviously you wont get the best match but something in optimal direction.

From an individual's perspective, there are various risks in a marriage. Let us discuss one of them - that about cheating.

If an individual meets a partner in a white-knight situation, the other partner will have an obligation to remain faithful. So, the white-knight concept of takeovers works for marriages too(in a corporate takeover, the acquiring firm(white knight) tends to get a lot of support from the acquiree company). Of course, this is assuming that the loyalty test is done. This is just one of the methods to ensure absence of cheating. There are other methods too.

There must be a net value creation for both the individuals. As a married couple, their social, and economic status must be higher than the individuals left alone (Sum of the parts). This will not leave any of the partner feeling less satisfied. I dont indulge in vanity fair and hence, more than status, I feel they complement each other then it works better. So, an easy way for couples to figure this out is "what do you bring to the table?", "how do I contribute to you", "what will be the goals of this union", and "how do we combine to gain our individual goals (will be able to ?)?"

Next, we will consider the possibility of culture can play a huge role in shaping up the marriage. At times, when people from different cultures marry and if they have not given adequate thought to it, then it creates issues not thought about earlier. For instance, if an Indian girl marries a western guy, then she will get considerable flexibility in various terms but she cannot expect this guy to bend and touch the feet of her father during their meetings. He will pretty much address her dad by the first name and her dad may find this offending. (just a hypothetical possible scenario).

Personality types must be complementary - otherwise, there is a higher possibility of clashes. Moreover, it is better to have both the partners as matured individuals because the possibility of divorce is lesser for couples who married later than earlier.

Note: These are thoughts by a bachelor in a definite perspective (marriages as mergers) and they are all in forms of a guidelines instead of "rules" because "rules" cannot exist for the partner-search process. There can be guiding principles and a very small fraction has been briefly mentioned. above.