Technological overlap,technological capabilities,and resource recombination in technological acquisitions

The performance of technological acquisitions depends heavily on the overlap between the knowledge bases of the target and acquirer. We argue that overlap is best viewed as two distinct constructs: target overlap, the proportion of the target's knowledge base that the acquirer already possesses, and acquirer overlap, the proportion of the acquirer's knowledge base duplicated by the target. Each affects the value created from the firms' technological capabilities differently due to absorptive capacity, knowledge redundancy, and organizational disruption. Further, the low quantity of innovations observed in acquisitions with low target overlap may conceal an offsetting increase in their novelty. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Market value effects of acquisitions involving internet firms: a resource‐based analysis

While most prior research suggests that the average change in market value of acquiring firms varies closely around zero, recent research grounded in the resource‐based view and organizational learning theory identify positive returns to acquirers. We contribute to this literature by focusing on acquisitions of Internet firms and the potential for the transfer of scarce resources. We hypothesize that acquisitions made by offline firms of Internet firms and by Internet firms of other Internet firms lead to positive market valuation for the acquirer. Results of an event study of 798 acquisitions of Internet firms provided support for these predictions. We also find that prior alliances with online firms do not reduce the gains from such acquisitions to offline firms. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Value creation and destruction in cross‐border acquisitions: an empirical analysis of foreign acquisitions of U.S. firms

We conduct an investigation of the sources of gains and losses in cross‐border acquisitions in light of different motives for undertaking these transactions: synergy‐seeking, managerialism and hubris. We find that the data are consistent with the expectation that multiple sources of value creation exist in synergistic cross‐border acquisitions: asset sharing, reverse internalization of valuable intangible assets, and financial diversification. Gains accrue to bidder firm shareholders only for the least fungible of these sources of gains, i.e., reverse internalization. For value‐destroying acquisitions that are expected to be driven by managerialism, we find that the data are consistent with only one of the sources of value destruction that we examine, i.e., risk reduction. In these acquisitions, the evidence also suggests that the relative size of the target to the bidder mitigates the negative effects of risk reduction. Our results underscore the importance of considering the implications of alternative behavioral assumptions in empirical strategy content research. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Environmental capabilities and corporate strategy: exploring acquisitions among US manufacturing firms

In this article, we investigate whether environmental capabilities influence firms' corporate strategies, a topic that has received little attention to date. We hypothesize that firms are more likely to acquire facilities when ownership facilitates the transfer of capabilities either to or from the facility. Using a panel from the U.S. government's Toxics Release Inventory Program, we find firms with superior environmental capabilities are significantly more likely to acquire physically proximate facilities with inferior environmental capabilities and vice versa. Our results extend theories of both corporate and environmental strategy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Repeating a familiar pattern in a new way: The effect of exploitation and exploration on knowledge leverage behaviors in technology acquisitions

Research Summary: We identify two types of knowledge leverage behaviors undertaken by acquiring firms: integrated and independent knowledge leverage. We address how the prior exploitation or exploration orientation of acquirers influence these two modes of knowledge leverage behaviors. The degree of exploitation of acquirers promotes integrating their existing knowledge with acquired knowledge in innovative actions. In contrast, the degree of exploration of acquirers increases the likelihood that new innovations will use acquired knowledge without integrating it with their prior knowledge. In addition, the firm's prior acquisition rate moderates the relationship between the acquiring firms’ previous exploitation or exploration orientation and their knowledge leverage mode. The findings of this article suggest that pre‐acquisition innovation capabilities are distinct from but influence the post‐acquisition innovation actions. Managerial Summary: Firms often undertake acquisitions to gain access to new knowledge, but they can differ dramatically in how they leverage acquired knowledge. We show that the firm's prior innovation patterns drive this choice. Firms that have previously focused on incremental innovations in their internal innovation efforts tend to integrate acquired knowledge with their own prior knowledge. In contrast, firms that have previously pursued bold innovations tend to leverage acquired knowledge alone in new innovations. Thus, we show that firms use acquisitions as a means to extend their internal innovation patterns—firms that have focused on incremental innovations extend that with acquisitions by linking new innovations to their prior knowledge while firms that have pursued bold initiatives use acquired knowledge to move in new technology directions.     

Interorganizational alliances and the performance of firms: a study of growth and innovation rates in a high‐technology industry

This paper investigates the relationship between intercorporate technology alliances and firm performance. It argues that alliances are access relationships, and therefore that the advantages which a focal firm derives from a portfolio of strategic coalitions depend upon the resource profiles of its alliance partners. In particular, large firms and those that possess leading‐edge technological resources are posited to be the most valuable associates. The paper also argues that alliances are both pathways for the exchange of resources and signals that convey social status and recognition. Particularly when one of the firms in an alliance is a young or small organization or, more generally, an organization of equivocal quality, alliances can act as endorsements: they build public confidence in the value of an organization's products and services and thereby facilitate the firm's efforts to attract customers and other corporate partners. The findings from models of sales growth and innovation rates in a large sample of semiconductor producers confirm that organizations with large and innovative alliance partners perform better than otherwise comparable firms that lack such partners. Consistent with the status‐transfer arguments, the findings also demonstrate that young and small firms benefit more from large and innovative strategic alliance partners than do old and large organizations. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cross‐border mergers and acquisitions: The role of private equity firms

Research summary: We show that private equity ownership (“PE backing”) of the acquirer is a signal of deal quality in cross‐border takeovers. As such, PE‐backed acquirers experience higher announcement returns in cross‐border takeovers, but only if targets are in poor information environments. We show that PE backing is a positive market signal because of PE firms' experience and networks that result from prior deals in target countries. We document that the market correctly anticipates that operating performance of PE‐backed acquirers increases as a result of cross‐border mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Managerial summary: We study cross‐border acquisitions by acquirers that are partially owned by private equity firms (“PE backing”). Cross‐border acquisitions are challenging as acquirers often have little information about targets. We document that investors react positively to cross‐border deals of PE‐backed acquirers—their stock prices increase upon deal announcements. However, this is only the case if targets are in countries with poor information environments. This is because PE backing allows acquirers to access PE firms' deal experience and networks. This makes it easier to identify and evaluate good targets, making it more (less) likely that a deal eventually creates (destroys) value. Consistent with this, we find that earnings of PE‐backed acquirers increase after buying targets in poor information environments. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relative standing and the performance of recently acquired European firms

This study draws on the concepts of relative standing to explain the post-merger performance of recently acquired European firms. We used a 2 × 3 sampling design where we surveyed top managers of British and French firms that were acquired by British, French, and U.S. firms as to their perceptions of cultural compatibility with the buying firms, their sense of loss of autonomy since the merger, and post-merger performance. While we found that the theory adequately explains the post-merger performance of both British and French firms, suggesting that this primarily ‘made-in-the-United States’ organization theory extends beyond the cultural domain of the United States, we also found an aspect of the theory that reflects a possible cultural bias. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Open for innovation: the role of openness in explaining innovation performance among U.K. manufacturing firms

A central part of the innovation process concerns the way firms go about organizing search for new ideas that have commercial potential. New models of innovation have suggested that many innovative firms have changed the way they search for new ideas, adopting open search strategies that involve the use of a wide range of external actors and sources to help them achieve and sustain innovation. Using a large‐scale sample of industrial firms, this paper links search strategy to innovative performance, finding that searching widely and deeply is curvilinearly (taking an inverted U‐shape) related to performance. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The long‐term performance of horizontal acquisitions

This paper examines how value is created in horizontal mergers and acquisitions. More specifically, it examines the impact of post‐acquisition asset divestiture and resource redeployment on the long‐term performance of horizontal acquisitions. The data come from a detailed survey of acquiring firm managers and cover 253 horizontal mergers and acquisitions that were initiated by European and U.S. firms in manufacturing industries for the period 1988–1992. This study incorporates insights from the cost efficiency and resource‐based theories to propose a model of the effects of asset divestiture and resource redeployment on long‐term acquisition performance. Overall, our results show that both asset divestiture and resource redeployment can contribute to acquisition performance, with, however, a significant risk of damaging acquisition performance when the divested assets and redeployed resources are those of the target. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Asset divestiture following horizontal acquisitions: a dynamic view

Business acquisition, resource redeployment, and asset divestiture are elements of a dynamic process in which firms change their businesses by recombining internal and external resources. Analyzing 253 horizontal acquisitions, we show that post‐acquisition resource redeployment leads to asset divestiture from the business that receives the redeployed resources, but not from the business that contributes the new resources. Consistent with scale economies rationales, we find that strategic similarity also leads to greater asset divestiture from the target firms. Many theoretical perspectives are skeptical about the positive rationale for acquisitions and many of these believe that asset divestiture is evidence of acquisition failure. Our arguments and analysis help refine the accepted wisdom. In particular, the pattern of resource redeployment and asset divestiture in our analysis suggests that acquisitions provide a means of reconfiguring the structure of resources within firms and that asset divestiture is a logical consequence of this reconfiguration process. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of FDI through mergers and acquisitions on innovation in target firms

This paper analyzes the effects of cross-border mergers and acquisitions on innovation activities in target firms. The empirical analysis is based on survey and ownership data for a large sample of small- and medium-sized German firms. After controlling for endogeneity and selection bias, we find that foreign acquisitions have a large negative impact on the propensity to perform innovation activities and a negative impact on average R&D expenditures in innovative firms. Furthermore, innovation output, measured as product and process innovations, and the share of sales from product innovations, is not significantly affected by a foreign acquisition for a given amount of innovation efforts. Hence, the estimation results do not provide any evidence of significant technology transfer through foreign acquisitions in form of a higher innovation success.     

Predicting who stays and leaves after an acquisition: a study of top managers in multinational firms

This study adds to current explanations of executive fate following a merger or acquisition by examining how executives' perceptions of merger events determine whether they stay or leave. Results indicate that executives' perceptions of the merger announcement, interactions with the acquiring firm's top managers following the merger, and long-term effects of the merger significantly influenced their decision to stay or leave. These perceptions could be used to correctly distinguish between stayers and leavers in almost 80 percent of the cases. In addition, perceptions created when the target company was acquired by a foreign multinational made it more likely that the executive would leave. This finding demonstrates that foreignness continues to be an important determinant of executive perceptions in cross-national mergers and acquisitions. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the duality of political and economic stakeholder influence on firm innovation performance: Theory and evidence from Chinese firms

Research Summary

In this study, we propose and test a multi‐stakeholder perspective to address variation in innovation performance across firms. Specifically, we analyze how a focal firm's innovation performance is shaped by its political stakeholders (local and central governments) and economic stakeholders (suppliers, buyers, and competitors). Using a data set consisting of over 26,400 Chinese firms, we first find support for our predictions that a focal firm's innovation performance will be enhanced by both its government connections and the innovativeness of its economic stakeholders. We then analyze whether the interdependent effect of these political and economic stakeholders is more likely to be synergistic versus antagonistic, and find evidence consistent with the antagonistic view.

Managerial Summary

We show how a firm's innovativeness is influenced strongly by its relationships to external stakeholders. Specifically, we examine the potentially dual‐edged role of political stakeholders (local and central governments) and economic stakeholders (suppliers, buyers, and competitors). Using extensive data on Chinese firms, we find: (a) that the higher the level of government connections, the greater a firm's innovativeness; (b) that firms located in proximity with more innovative economic stakeholders also tend to have higher innovation performance. We also look beyond these independent positive effects to examine the joint effect of these two forms of stakeholder influence, and here we see that more influence is not always better. Specifically, we find that the innovation benefit that typically accrues to firms in proximity to more innovative economic stakeholders is weakened when those firms also have higher‐level government connections.     

Technological innovation of firms in China: Past, present, and future

What do we know about technological innovation of firms in China? What are the directions for future research on this topic? This paper summarizes and discusses some of the newest literature on technological innovation of firms in China in the following three ways: (1) the influence of firms?? external factors, (2) the influence of firms?? internal factors, and (3) interfirm cooperation factors. Based on the analysis of these articles, we propose a framework which highlights these influencing factors, decision-making and implementation of technological innovation and innovation performance, in the context of China??s emerging economy. This framework sheds lights on future innovation research.     

From crisis to opportunity: environmental jolt,corporate acquisitions,and firm performance

This study incorporates the external environmental context into the study of corporate acquisitions by examining the performance implications of corporate acquisitions during an environmental jolt that alters the levels of environmental munificence. We posit that compared to the periods before and after an environmental jolt, corporate acquisitions during a jolt would be positively related to firm performance. Furthermore, we suggest that organizational slack would improve firm performance and accentuate the positive relationship between corporate acquisitions and firm performance during an environmental jolt; however, it would have negative impact on firm performance and make the acquisition‐performance relationship more negative before and after a jolt. Using the Asian Economic Crisis as a natural experiment, we found general support for our core arguments based on a sample of firms from Hong Kong and Singapore. Our work demonstrates that firms can capitalize on the opportunities created by the changes in an environmental jolt. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The value from acquiring and divesting a joint venture: a real options approach

This study examines the value created from acquiring and divesting a joint venture. Unlike previous research which focuses on parent firm factors, the study examines value in light of the reason behind the termination of the venture and the characteristics of the target market. Consistent with the real options view, the paper finds that ventures divested to refocus a parent firm's product market portfolio were associated with significant value creation. In contrast, ventures acquired with the objective of growth and expansion in a target market, while not associated with significant value creation, did not destroy value either. Apart from these results, the paper also finds that acquirers and divesters gained lesser value when they terminated ventures in uncertain and concentrated industries. These latter findings highlight an important caveat with regard to termination: joint ventures confer valuable flexibility which is also forgone once they are terminated. Implications are discussed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CEO incentives,innovation, and performance in technology‐intensive firms: a reconciliation of outcome and behavior‐based incentive schemes

Building on the agency view of corporate governance, we propose that technology‐intensive firms use both outcome and behavior‐based performance criteria for rewarding CEOs. Using a sample of 206 firms from 12 U.S. manufacturing industries, we find that as technological intensity increases CEO bonuses are more closely linked to financial results and that total CEO incentives are associated with two indicators of desirable innovation behaviors: invention resonance and science harvesting. Invention resonance refers to the impact a firm's inventions have on other firms' inventions, while science harvesting reflects a firm's commitment to scientific research. As technological intensity increases, aligning bonus with financial results, total incentives with invention resonance, and total incentives with science harvesting predict firm market performance. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.