How to improve acquisition performance: The role of a dedicated M&A function,M&A learning process,and M&A capability

How to improve the performance of mergers & acquisitions (M&A) continues to be a confounding issue. We show that a dedicated M&A function is a new phenomenon that is positively related to a firm's M&A performance and M&A learning process. Moreover, we find that an M&A learning process (involving articulation, codification, sharing, and internalization) helps build up an M&A capability, which in turn is positively related to a firm's overall M&A performance. We use survey data from a sample drawn from the M&A activities of German firms to test our arguments. Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Der Dodd-Frank Act auf dem Prüfstand

In February 2017, newly elected U.S. president Donald Trump released a presidential executive order on core principles for regulating the United States financial system. Basically, the order seeks to compare how existing regulation imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act corresponds with the core principles that include the promotion of financial stability by improving accountability and transparency in the financial system, the end of “too big to fail”, the protection of the American taxpayer by ending bailouts and consumers from abusive financial services practices. This article presents an overview of important regulations imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act and discusses the criticism on some of the regulations.     

Passion for Work,Nonwork‐Related Excitement,and Innovation Managers’ Decision to Exploit New Product Opportunities

This article investigates the role of affect in innovation managers’ decision to exploit new product opportunities—a decision central to the innovation process. The model proposes that different types of passion can trigger managers’ exploitation decisions but that this effect is contingent on experiencing excitement from events outside their work environment. A field experiment with 90 owner–managers of young firms located in an innovation context (business incubators) shows that passion for work and nonwork‐related excitement levels interdependently impact innovation managers’ decision to exploit new product opportunities. Specifically, harmonious passion has a general positive effect on managers’ propensity to exploit. In contrast, the effect of obsessive passion is more complex and contingent on the additional excitement managers experience such that the positive relationship between obsessive passion and the decision to exploit is more positive with higher levels of excitement. These findings extend the product innovation management literature by acknowledging that decision‐makers’ affective experiences influence innovation decisions and provide a first step toward understanding the role of affect and passion in the product innovation context. Second, the finding that obsessive passion and nonwork‐related excitement interact in explaining opportunity exploitation decisions highlights the need to incorporate contingency relationships in models of innovation decision‐making. Third, in drawing on a field experiment and the experimental manipulation of managerial affect during the decision‐making task, this article answers a recent call in the project management literature to pursue less common methodological approaches and develop “broader theoretical schema” in order to enhance our understanding of innovation management. Finally, this study also has implications for practitioners because it can help innovation managers understand their own decision policies. To the extent that innovation managers are able to regulate their affective experiences, this improved understanding might prevent them from premature and faulty decision‐making.     

A Review and Comparison of Bandwidth Selection Methods for Kernel Regression

Over the last decades, several methods for selecting the bandwidth have been introduced in kernel regression. They differ quite a bit, and although there already exist more selection methods than for any other regression smoother, one can still observe coming up new ones. Given the need of automatic data‐driven bandwidth selectors for applied statistics, this review is intended to explain and, above all, compare these methods. About 20 different selection methods have been revised, implemented and compared in an extensive simulation study.     

Financial Accounting Effects of Tax Aggressiveness: Contracting and Measurement

This study examines a setting in which a tax‐reporting decision is delegated to a firm's tax manager. Using financial accounting measures of tax expense to evaluate the tax manager allows the firm to efficiently attain the level of tax avoidance it prefers, despite the fact that the consequences of the tax‐reporting decision will occur in the future. The study also examines how well two accounting measures of tax aggressiveness — cash taxes paid and the unrecognized tax benefit — distinguish between conservative and aggressive firms.