Abstract
This study examines the post-M&A innovative performance of acquiring firms in four major high-tech sectors. Non-technological M&As appear to have a negative impact on the acquiring firm's post-M&A innovative performance. With respect to technological M&As, a large relative size of the acquired knowledge base reduces the innovative performance of the acquiring firm. The absolute size of the acquired knowledge base only has a positive effect during the first couple of years after which the effect turns around and we see a negative effect on the innovative performance of the acquiring firm. The relatedness between the acquired and acquiring firms’ knowledge bases has a curvilinear impact on the acquiring firm's innovative performance. This indicates that companies should target M&A ‘partners’ that are neither too unrelated nor too similar in terms of their knowledge base.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 642-654 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Research Policy |
Volume | 35 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jun 2006 |
Externally published | Yes |