Reducing causal ambiguity in acquisition integration: Intermediate goals as mediators of integration decisions and acquisition performance

• 成果类型: Review
• 署名作者: Cording, Margaret; Christmann, Petra; King, David R.
• 署名单位: Rice University; Rutgers University System; Rutgers University New Brunswick; United States Department of Defense; United States Air Force; US Air Force Research Laboratory
• 刊物名称: ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4273
• 发表日期: 2008
• 页码: 744-767
• 关键词: STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELS; Competitive advantage; FIRM RESOURCES; mergers; management; KNOWLEDGE; capabilities; determinants; strategy; success

摘要

Integration is a difficult process, but one that is vital to acquisition performance. One reason acquirers encounter difficulties is that the integration process exhibits high levels of intrafirm linkage ambiguity-a lack of clarity in the causal link between integration decisions and their performance outcomes. We introduce the construct of intermediate goals as a mechanism that reduces intrafirm linkage ambiguity. Our structural model results, based on a sample of 129 horizontal acquisitions, indicate that the achievement of two intermediate goals (internal reorganization and market expansion) fully mediates the relationships between four integration decisions and acquisition performance.