Labour productivity in M&As: industry sector vs. services sector

Due to the high failure rate of the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) strategy, this study raises the questions of whether the pre-M&A performances of the acquirer and the target could predict improvement in labour productivity in the post-M&A period. The study also conducted sector analysis by comparison between three groups of the sample: the industry sector M&As, the services sector M&As and the all sectors M&As. The study uses a sample of 394 public firms from 13 countries that were involved in M&As. The study highlights the differences between the sectors. Buying a larger target in the services sector may not hinder the labour productivity in the post-M&A period, while in the industry sector, it may end in a negative influence on labour productivity. The study also shows that the labour productivity is higher in the services sector compared to the labour productivity in the industry sector, particularly during the integration stage.     

The micro-foundations of strategic ambidexterity: Chinese cross-border M&As,Mid-View thinking and integration management

Chinese cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) display several unique properties in relation to the ways in which their international business operations are organised and managed. Their seemingly puzzling ‘light-touch’ integration approach can be significantly understood from a strategic ambidexterity perspective: on the one hand, the ‘light-touch’ enables the exploitation of the targets’ existing knowledge bases; on the other hand, elements of the ‘light-touch’ facilitate the exploration of the new knowledge arising from the collaboration between targets and acquirers. However, an important theoretical gap remains: why do Chinese companies deploy such a strategic ambidexterity approach in their post-acquisition integrations? This paper aims to fill this gap by proposing Mid-View thinking as a micro-foundation of strategic ambidexterity in integration management from a cultural and philosophical perspective. To illuminate our conceptualization and argument, we conducted qualitative in-depth interviews with CEOs/high-level managers of acquired German companies. Communication approach and organizational control—as two critical aspects in integration management—reveal how Mid-View thinking can serve as a micro-foundation of strategic ambidexterity. We conclude this paper by presenting its theoretical contributions, managerial implications, and future research directions.     

The emotions of top managers and key persons in cross-border M&As: Evidence from a longitudinal case study

Building on prior research on emotions in M&A, this paper analyses the post-M&A emotions of top managers and key persons from the acquired company by examining what triggers emotions during the post-acquisition integration stage, and what the consequences of those emotions are. This study applies cognitive appraisal and affective event theories with empirical evidence based on a longitudinal, single case study of an Indian–Finnish acquisition. The main findings imply that M&As are very emotional for top managers and key persons. Our findings reveal that they experience a wide range of positive and negative emotions triggered by individual and company-level triggers. Interestingly various triggers can have different and opposite appraisal outcomes in the short and long-term. In addition, top managers and key persons are often restricted in the range of behavioural outcomes caused by emotions.     

Value co‐creation between foreign firms and indigenous small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in Kazakhstan's oil and gas industry: The role of information technology spillovers

Study related to the extractive sector still plays a limited role in the mainstream international business (IB) and management literature, with even less focus on ongoing liberalization and digitalization in the industry. This article was motivated by the question of how collaboration between foreign and indigenous oil and gas (O&G) companies can support small‐sized and medium‐sized indigenous technological development. The main contribution of this article is the development of a model that explains how different actors can cocreate value in the ecosystem of the O&G industry through digital technologies. A three‐stage qualitative–interpretive method based on interviews with industry experts was adopted to build three vignette case studies. This article proposes what companies and the government could do to increase the competitiveness of the local economy, diversify from O&G into high technological industries, and support industrial development through information and communication technologies (ICT).