Corporate governance and financial constraints on strategic turnarounds

The paper extends the Robbins and Pearce (1992) two-stage turnaround response model to include governance factors. In addition to the retrenchment and recovery, the paper proposes the addition of a realignment stage, referring specifically to the re-alignment of expectations of principal and agent groups. The realignment stage imposes a threshold that must be crossed before the retrenchment and hence recovery stage can be entered. Crossing this threshold is problematic to the extent that the interests of governance-stakeholder groups diverge in a crisis situation. The severity of the crisis impacts on the bases of strategy contingent asset valuation leading to the fragmentation of stakeholder interests. In some cases the consequence may be that management are prevented from carrying out turnarounds by governance constraints. The paper uses a case study to illustrate these dynamics, and like the Robbins and Pearce study, it focuses on the textile industry. A longitudinal approach is used to show the impact of the removal of governance constraints. The empirical evidence suggests that such financial constraints become less serious to the extent that there is a functioning market for corporate control. Building on governance research and turnaround literature, the paper also outlines the general case necessary and sufficient conditions for successful turnarounds

AN EVENT STUDY OF THE DELISTING OF HOSPITALITY STOCKS IN THE UNITED STATES

Managers make important corporate strategic investment decisions such as mergers and acquisitions to improve the long-term competitiveness of their organizations; while at times they may be forced to manage for the short-term in order to satisfy the demands from the stock market.However, there is a lack of empirical research to examine the short- versus long-term view of management decision-making.This study analyses the mergers and acquisitions activities in the hospitality industry and particularly, investigates delisting behaviour of publicly traded hospitality firms and whether companies exhibit distinct patterns before delisting. Consolidation is prevalent in a maturing industry such as hospitality which currently faces a fiercely competitive global environment. The results of the study show that there is substantial difference between hospitality and non-hospitality stocks: not much information leakage in the delisting of hospitality stocks and a marked increase in institutional holdings with time but significant information leakage in non-hospitality stocks as reflected by positive and significant abnormal returns

Using rival effects to identify synergies and improve merger typologies

"The strategic management literature has found it difficult to differentiate between collusive and efficiency-based synergies in horizontal merger activity. We propose a schematic to classify mergers that yields more information on merger types and merger effects, and that can, moreover, distinguish between mergers characterized largely by collusion-based synergies and mergers characterized largely by efficiency-based synergies. Crucial to the proposed measurement procedure is that it encompasses the impact of merger events not only on merging firms - as is custom - but also on non-merging competitor firms (the rivals). Employing the event-study methodology with stock-market data on samples of large horizontal mergers drawn from the US and UK (an Anglo-Saxon sub-sample) and from the European continent, we demonstrate how the proposed schematic can better clarify the nature of merger activity." (author's abstract)"Die Literatur über strategisches Management hatte bisher Schwierigkeiten, zwischen wettbewerbsschädlichen und Effizienz steigenden Synergien bei horizontalen Zusammenschlüssen zu differenzieren. Wir schlagen einen konzeptionellen Rahmen vor, um Fusionen zu klassifizieren, welcher mehr Informationen sowohl über die Fusionstypologie als auch über die Wirkung von Zusammenschlüssen entschlüsselt und welcher eine klare Abgrenzung zwischen wettbewerbsschädlichen und wettbewerbsfreundlichen Fusionen erlaubt. Fundamental für diesen konzeptionellen Rahmen ist, dass er nicht nur die Wirkung der Fusion auf die fusionierenden Unternehmen (was typisch in der Literatur ist) umfasst, sondern auch ihre Wirkung auf die Rentabilität der Wettbewerber. Wir wenden eine Ereignisstudienmethode mit Aktiendaten an, um unsere Kategorisierung empirisch umzusetzen. Im Vergleich einer Stichprobe von Fusionen in der angelsächsischen Welt (US und Großbritannien) mit Fusionen zwischen kontinentaleuropäischen Firmen zeigen wir, wie unsere Methodologie hilfreich sein kann, die Art der Fusionsaktivitäten zu identifizieren." (Autorenreferat

Organisational Resilience in Acquisition Integration—Organisational Antecedents and Contingency Effects of Flexibility and Redundancy

Resilience has received increasing attention in organisational research; however, it has remained understudied in the context of acquisitions. This is surprising given acquisitions involve challenging events that would benefit from a consideration of organisational resilience. We outline how flexibility and redundancy, as dimensions of organisational resilience, influence acquisition outcomes. We find flexibility can lower negative impacts of competitor retaliation and employee resistance during acquisition integration, but this depends on a decentralised approach to managing integration. Additionally, it appears developing organisational resilience depends on acquisition experience

Upgrading without formal integration in M&A : the role of social integration

Research summary: By adopting a phenomenon-based research approach, we examine the case of an emerging market (EM) supplier upgrading its position in the automotive global value chain (GVC) through the acquisition of a technologically advanced firm from a developed market (DM). Drawing on GVC and social integration literature, we explore the role of social integration adopted by the EM acquirer to achieve upgrading through acquisition. We develop a conceptual framework where we explain the different social integration mechanisms that EM multinationals employ before and after acquisitions to achieve upgrading. Managerial summary: When analyzing an EM firm acquiring a DM firm we found that social integration is a key factor that enables knowledge transfer, particularly if no formal or structural integration occurs. This suggests that the development of mechanisms to facilitate strong socially integrated relationships with acquired firms is central for such type of acquisitions. Our research shows that EM firm managers need to put in place combinations of social integration mechanisms during different phases of the acquisition. Environmental and cognitive social integration mechanisms are crucial for gaining initial legitimacy. Furthermore, affective social integration is important for initiating process and functional upgrading, while cognitive social integration mechanisms become important for initiating intersectorial upgrading

Family Business Restructuring:A Review and Research Agenda

Although business restructuring occurs frequently and it is important for the prosperity of family firms across generations, research on family firms has largely evolved separately from research on business restructuring. This is a missed opportunity, since the two domains are complementary, and understanding the context, process, content, and outcome dimensions is relevant to both research streams. We address this by examining the intersection between research on business restructuring and family firms to improve our knowledge of each area and inform future research. To achieve this goal, we review and organize research across different dimensions to create an integrative framework. Building on current research, we focus on 88 studies at the intersection of family firm and business restructuring research to develop a model that identifies research needs and suggests directions for future research

The causes of mergers Tests based on the gains to acquiring firms' shareholders and the size of premia

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:9349.2269(WP 109) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo