Mergers, Acquisitions and Technological Regimes: The European Experience over the Period 2002-2005

Comparisons by countries and by sectors of mergers and acquisitions have usually been performed in separate fields of research. A first group of studies, focusing on international comparisons, has explored the role of corporate governance systems, investor protection laws and other countries’ regulatory institutions as the main determinants of takeovers around the world. A second group of contributions has attributed a central role to variations in industry composition, documenting that, in each country, mergers occur in waves and within each wave clustering by industry is observed. This paper aims to integrate both perspectives and to make comparisons by countries and by sectors, thus exploring the role of various driving forces on takeover activities. It also intends to consider the specific influence that technological regimes and their innovation patterns may exert in reallocating assets and moving capital among sectors. This will be done by examining the European experience of the last few years (2002-2005). We found that even in countries where transfer of control is a frequent phenomenon, mergers are less frequent in those sectors where innovation is a cumulative process and where takeovers may be a threat to the continuity of accumulation of innovative capabilities

Is Speed of Integration really a Success Factor of Mergers and Acquisitions? : An Analysis of the Role of Internal and External Relatedness

Previous research on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) has neglected the issue of speed of post merger integration (PMI) by and large. This paper argues that there are benefits and detriments associated with speed of integration. Thus, in some situations speed may be highly beneficial whereas in others it may be harmful to the success of a merger or acquisition. It is argued that the benefits and detriments of speed of integration depend on the magnitude of internal and external relatedness between the merging firms prior to the merger or acquisition. Results from a survey of 232 horizontal mergers and acquisitions show that speed is most beneficial when external relatedness is low and at the same time internal relatedness is high. In contrast, speed is highly detrimental in the case of low internal and high external relatedness

Female Audit Partners and Extended Audit Reporting: UK Evidence

This study investigates whether audit partner gender is associated with the extent of auditor disclosure and the communication style regarding risks of material misstatements that are classified as key audit matters (KAMs). Using a sample of UK firms during the 2013–2017 period, our results suggest that female audit partners are more likely than male audit partners to disclose more KAMs with more details after controlling for both client and audit firm attributes. Furthermore, female audit partners are found to use a less optimistic tone and provide less readable audit reports, compared to their male counterparts, suggesting that behavioural variances between female and male audit partners may have significant implications on their writing style. Therefore, this study offers new insights on the role of audit partner gender in extended audit reporting. Our findings have important implications for audit firms, investors, policymakers and governments in relation to the development, implementation and enforcement of gender diversity

Is the speed of post-acquisition integration manageable? Case study: post-acquisition integration of HSBC with the Mercantile Bank, 1959–84

This study aims to fill in the gaps in existing business history research regarding post-acquisition integration by adopting a case study of the post-acquisition integration process between HSBC and Mercantile Bank (MB) 1959–84. It explores the impact of the institutional environment and organisational transformation on the speed of integration and tries to explain why the integration between HSBC and MB took so long. This study may also give some indications to the current emerging multinational companies (MNCs) from the developing countries

Privatization Policy in an International Oligopoly

This paper studies privatization policy in an international oligopoly. The argument that equal treatment of foreign investors will be detrimental to domestic welfare by shifting profits from domestic to foreign firms is shown to be less relevant in privatization auctions than for greenfield FDI. This is because such profit shifts are paid for in part by foreign firms in the bidding competition for the privatized firm in the auction. It is also shown that small local equity requirements are likely to be beneficial, but large ones are counterproductive, preventing welfare-enhancing foreign acquisitions. Copyright (c) The London School of Economics and Political Science 2005.