Mergers and Acquisitions

5Change outcomes

A significant share of M&A research is dedicated to unraveling their performance outcomes. In the main, this has been defined in financial terms. However, there are multiple methods to measure performance, and acquisitions may not be motivated by financial performance. As mentioned in Chapter 2, acquisitions may also primarily be driven by other motives, including firm survival. For example, Chaturvedi and Prescott (2016) find firms experiencing disruptive technology changes are more likely to survive if they have slack resources and acquisition experience. Still, firm survival remains relatively low (Carmeli & Markman, 2011), and, if acquisitions help firms change and survive, this could be an important outcome. Another consideration ...