The function-specific microfoundations of dynamic capabilities in cross-border mergers and acquisitions

In mergers and acquisitions, the acquiring firm must combine two firms’ resources and capabilities so that the outcome yields value. In individual firms, the marketing & sales, and R&D functions have typically developed intertwined and complex relationships over time. These multifaceted dependencies may obscure the integration of the firms and their functions. In order to reveal to what extent cross-functional relationships determine the success or failure of an acquisitions, we have made one of the first attempts to study merging firms’ function-specific capabilities, underlying microfoundations, and their cross-functional relationships during the integration process—instead of focusing on acquisition capabilities as such. We use longitudinal data from two cross-border acquisitions between US and Finnish SMEs. Our results indicate that major differences between merging firms’ cross-functional microfoundations—that is, their structures, processes, routines, and skills—might either enforce or erode the seemingly promising synergies at the product and market levels, depending on managerial awareness of their nature.     

The stock market performance of exploration-oriented and exploitation-oriented cross-border mergers and acquisitions: Evidence from emerging market enterprises

This study builds on insights from mergers and acquisitions (M&A) studies and the perspective that stock market performance is affected by the M&A strategies of firms. Past studies show that acquisitions are an effective way to exploit existing knowledge and explore new possibilities. We argue that stock market performance can be a response to exploration/exploitation strategies in the context of cross-border M&As by emerging market multinationals. Based on cross-border M&A data of Chinese multinationals, we find that exploration-oriented acquisitions have worse stock market performance than exploitation-oriented acquisitions. Furthermore, we find support for our premise that acquiring firms can reduce the risk of exploration-oriented acquisitions by having more high-discretion slack resources or by maintaining a high level of equity share of the target firm. In addition, acquiring firms perform better if they conduct exploration-oriented acquisitions in related industries. Our results contribute to a better understanding of exploration and exploitation in the context of M&As.     

The role of information technology systems in the performance of mergers and acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are an important tool for improving a firm's competitive positioning and performance. Despite M&As’ promise, however, they often fail to meet performance goals. Challenges often arise when managers try to integrate two companies’ information technology (IT) systems, and the difficulties encountered often create both short- and long-term performance problems for companies. To help address these challenges, we highlight important issues that managers involved in M&As must consider. We also present some best practices that managers should follow to improve the odds of successful IT integration.     

Idiosyncratic volatility and mergers and acquisitions in emerging markets

Given the recent findings in the literature that idiosyncratic volatility reflects stock price informativeness, we analyze the impact of idiosyncratic volatility on many acquisition parameters. We find that idiosyncratic volatility is positively related to acquisition premium; the relationship is more significant in deals that occurred in information-poor economies where acquirers have difficulty gathering information about the targets. These deals typically involve bidders from emerging markets and those that have less experience in the target country. Idiosyncratic volatility is also positively related to acquisition completion rate, the likelihood of the bidder acquiring majority control, but is negatively related to takeover probability.     

The performance of cross-border acquisitions targeting African firms

This paper examines the performance of cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) of fims domiciled in Africa. We examine 503 deals involving firms from 23 developed and 20 emerging countries, acquiring targets in 33 African countries. We find that, on aggregate, Africa bound CBAs significantly underperform, and that emerging economy acquirers outperform their developed economy counterparts. Further, significant variations in deal performance is documented when the target firms are categorised according to the level of development of African financial markets, industries, and to some extent, economic blocs. The results are robust to various firm, industry, deal and country specific characteristics.     

基于中国视角的跨国并购现状与风险分析

公司并购是一种有效的经济增长机制和一种产业经济结构调整的机制。但众所周知,并购有风险。国内外企业的并购不乏成功案例,更不缺失败的例子。2005年联想正式宣布完成收购IBM全球PC业务,进过了一系列的融合,现今已经成为了一个极具代表性的成功跨国并购案例。而失败的案例也是不甚枚举,2004年10月,上海汽车斥资5900亿韩元(当时折合约5亿美元)收购双龙汽车48.92%股权(后增持至51.3%)。但四年后,韩国双龙进入回生程序,上海汽车正式退出双龙汽车的经营管理。上汽为此付出了惨痛的代价。因此,在现今中国企业积极走出去的大背景下,对跨国并购的风险进行一定的分析显得具有一定的现实意义。本文通过对我国企业跨国并购的现状与风险进行分析,并通过分析提出一些跨国收购的风险管理的建议。     

Asymmetric roles of business ties and political ties in product innovation

This study investigates the asymmetric roles of business ties and political ties in innovation processes. The study posits that business ties strengthen organizational competence and enhance the environmental fit. In contrast, political ties increase the environmental fit but ossify organizational internal routines. The study uses an extensive survey on 766 Chinese firms across multiple sectors to test hypotheses. The empirical results provide strong supports for hypotheses by showing that: (1) business ties have a positive impact on product innovation, indicating that despite different types of business ties, they share common features in enhancing product innovation; (2) political ties have an inverted U-shaped relationship with product innovation, indicating that the positive effect of political ties on product innovation would diminish as the costs of political ties outweigh the benefits.     

Intellectual property rights,imitation, and development. The effect on cross-border mergers and acquisitions

In this paper, we analyze whether the recent global process of strengthening and harmonization of intellectual property rights (IPRs) affects decisions of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). We investigate if IPRs have a differential effect across sectors of different technology content and for countries of different development level. Also, we study how imitation abilities of target countries interact with the tightening of IPRs. Using data for the post-TRIPS period (1995–2010), we estimate an extended gravity model to study the bilateral number of M&As, including a measure of the strength of IPRs systems on target countries and a set of control variables usually considered as determinants of M&As. The estimation results verify the gravity structure for M&As and show that IPRs –and enforcement– influence decisions of cross-border M&As in all sectors regardless of their technological content. However, IPRs are more important in countries with high imitation abilities and in sectors of high-technology content. Furthermore, a strengthening of IPRs leads to a larger increase of M&As in developing countries than in developed countries. These results call the attention on the possible implications for least developed economies and challenge the adequacy of a globally harmonized IPRs systems.     

Strategic asset-seeking acquisitions,technological gaps,and innovation performance of Chinese multinationals

We investigate the impact of acquiring similar or complementary technologies on the innovation performance of Chinese multinationals’ strategic asset-seeking M&As in the EU, and whether such impact is contingent upon firm-level and region-level technological gaps. Results show that technological complementarity enhances Chinese multinationals’ innovation performance. Firm-level technological gaps have a positive moderating effect for both complementary and similar technologies. Region-level gaps enhance innovation when Chinese firms acquire similar technologies, but they undermine the positive impact of technological complementarity on innovation performance. We advance understanding of Chinese MNEs’ learning scope and strategic intents in their strategic asset-seeking M&As.     

Reconceptualizing cultural distance: The role of cultural experience reserve in cross-border acquisitions

Cultural distance is one of the most widely used distance construct in international business. However, scholars have long questioned the notion that cultural distance has a homogenous impact on organizational actions and performance. We redress this by examining how the relationship between cultural differences and deal abandonment in cross-border acquisitions is contingent on firm-level cultural experience reserve and industry affiliation. Drawing on the organizational learning theory and cultural friction perspective, we first propose that the cultural experience reserve of a focal firm mitigates the positive impact of cultural differences on cross-border deal abandonment. We then hypothesize that the firm's industry context affects the uncertainties associated with cultural differences. Our findings based on a sample of 197 Indian services sector firms support our theoretical predictions.     

Managers as the bridge: How cultural friction influences the integration of cross-border mergers and acquisitions

Going beyond cultural distance, the present study adopts a more contextualized view of cultural friction to account for the “actual cultural contacts” in cross-border mergers and acquisitions (CBMAs), and meanwhile builds a case-based measure of cultural friction to quantitatively capture the country- and deal-level cultural differences between the acquirer and the target in each CBMA. Differing from the existing research that takes the influence of cultural differences on CBMA performance for granted, we highlight the importance of managers from the acquiring firm by theorizing that cultural friction between the acquirer and the target can shape acquiring managers' choice of managerial practices to complete the managerial tasks during integration, leading to different performance. In particular, we postulate a curvilinear relationship between the cultural friction and CBMA performance. By incorporating regulatory focus theory into our analytical framework, we further hypothesize how this curve is shaped by managers’ regulatory focus, a key motivational trait at the firm management level. Using a sample of 304 completed CBMAs conducted by Chinese listed firms, our empirical results verify the U-shaped relationship between cultural friction and the CBMA integration performance, and suggest that this relationship is flattened by acquiring managers’ prevention focus.     

Explaining the trends in the UK cross-border mergers & acquisitions: An analysis of macro-economic factors

Most of the growth in international production over the past decades has been via cross-border mergers and acquisitions (CBM&As). Yet prior studies examining the trajectory of cross-border M&A activities as an entry mode of FDI have focused on industry and firm level factors. Dunning (2009) emphasised the importance of macroeconomic variables which may explain foreign direct investment and called for more research to improve our understanding on the effects of macroeconomic variables. Building on prior studies, this study attempts to investigate the role of macroeconomic influences on CBM&As activities in the UK over the 1987–2006 period. This study finds that GDP, exchange rate, interest rate and share prices have significant impact on the level of outward UK CBM&As. On the other hand, GDP, money supply and share price have statistically significant impact on the UK CBM&As inflows.     

The role of experiential and non-experiential knowledge in cross-border acquisitions: The case of Indian multinational enterprises

This paper investigates the antecedents of the internationalization of emerging economy multinational enterprises (EMNEs) through cross-border acquisitions. Using a panel data set of 1138 cross-border acquisitions made by 515 Indian multinational enterprises (MNEs) during 2000–2013, it examines interactions of in-house resources with experiential and non-experiential knowledge to explore how EMNEs manage and exploit their knowledge base when internationalizing. The results show that Indian multinational enterprises have ‘interface competence’. They combine in-house resources with experiential market and externally sourced technological knowledge for undertaking cross-border acquisitions. The Uppsala model provides insights in analyzing the role of market knowledge and the Global Factory model helps in analyzing the role of technology in cross-border acquisitions by EMNEs.     

Cloud computing capability: its technological root and business impact

Cloud computing can help organizations create business value for long-term viability and sustainability by providing flexibility and versatility. We report a systematic analysis of the central role of cloud computing capability in bridging the information technology (IT) features of cloud computing and its business value. We posit that the IT features of cloud computing lead to measureable increase in business value on both dimensions of performance benefit and collaboration benefit through cloud computing capability. Survey data collected from 174 firms largely support our hypotheses. This study offers fine-grained insights into the mechanisms of how the IT features of cloud computing influence the business value stemming from cloud computing. Firms should focus more on cultivating organizational capabilities to effectively deploy cloud computing in order to harvest the benefits promised by cloud computing.     

Board experience and value creation in cross-border acquisitions: The role of acquirer and target country institutions

Our study investigates the effects of board acquisition experience on value creation in cross-border acquisitions and the dependence of this relationship on acquirer and target country institutions. We draw on cross-border acquisition research and institution-based corporate governance research to argue that the effect of board acquisition experience depends on the institutional characteristics of the acquirer and target countries and on cultural differences between these two countries. Based on 1775 cross-border acquisitions of U.S. and European acquirers, we show a positive effect of board acquisition experience on the announcement returns of cross-border acquisitions, which is even stronger when the target country’s takeover regulations are less friendly and when the target and acquirer countries are culturally more distant.     

Ethno-national ties and international business opportunity exploitation: The role of environmental factors

This paper examines the effect of ethnic populations on international opportunity exploitation at a societal, or national, level. Past research shows a relationship between ethnic ties and international opportunity at an individual level; however, little is known about the role of ethnic ties and international opportunity at a national level, which is called ‘ethno-national ties’ in this study. In order to acquire in-depth knowledge of this subject, we studied a population of Chinese who are living outside their home country and applied contingency theory principles to investigate environmental boundary conditions that affect this population. Data collected from Chinese exporters indicate an overall positive effect of ethno-national ties on international opportunity exploitation—an effect that is influenced by three moderating variables: technological turbulence, psychic distance, and export barriers. Technological turbulence and export barriers weaken the effect of ethno-national ties on international opportunity exploitation while psychic distance enhances the effect.     

Institutional determinants of ownership stake in cross-border acquisitions in Africa: The moderating role of geographic distance

We look at how emerging markets' institutional features affect ownership stake in cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) within Africa. Particularly, we show that the presence of shared colonial history between the home and host country and the extent of fractionalization distance and formal institutional distance influence the acquiring firm's decision regarding its ownership stake in the target. Moreover, we show that geographic distance between the home and host country, by augmenting uncertainty faced by acquiring firms, moderates the relationship between these institutional features and ownership stake. We test our hypotheses in a sample of 341 intra-Africa CBAs from 2001 to 2016. Generally, we find that greater ex ante uncertainty and ex post costs increase ownership stake. Specifically, greater geographic distance strengthens the positive relationship between shared colonial history and ownership stake and reverses the negative relationship between formal institutional distance and ownership stake. As for fractionalization distance, the relationship is more nuanced and needs to be further studied. We contribute to advance research on south–south CBAs in general, particularly within Africa, as well as to extend hostage theory in foreign market entry strategies in and from emerging markets.     

Strategic orientation and new product performance: The roles of technological capability

Although prior research has examined the linkage between strategic orientation and new product performance, existing empirical evidence suggests exploration of the effects of a firm's internal factors on this linkage is required. This study aims to fill the marketing literature gap by addressing how technological capability moderates the strategic orientation‐new product performance relationship. This study measures new product performance as a two‐dimensional construct to avoid the oversimplified bias. Research hypotheses are tested using a sample of 121 information system product projects and a hierarchical regression approach is utilized. Results show that (a) technological capability strengthens the market orientation‐performance relationship and (b) technological capability affects the financial performance effects of market and technology orientations via market performance. Copyright © 2014 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.