Challengers, elites, and owning families: A social class theory of corporate acquisitions in the 1960s

• 成果类型: Review
• 署名作者: Palmer, D; Barber, BM
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Davis; University of California System; University of California Davis
• 刊物名称: ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCE QUARTERLY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-8392
• DOI: 10.2307/2667126
• 发表日期: 2001
• 页码: 87-120
• 关键词: free cash flow; AGENCY COSTS; INTERLOCKS; merger; OWNERSHIP; networks; BEHAVIOR; firm; ORGANIZATION; governance

摘要

This paper analyzes data on 461 large U.S. industrial corporations to determine the factors that led large firms to participate in the wave of diversifying acquisitions that peaked in the late 1960s. We elaborate and test a class theory of corporate acquisitions, maintaining that firms pursued acquisitions in this period when they were commanded by well-networked challengers who were central in elite social networks but relatively marginal with respect to social status, isolated from the resistance of established elites, and free from control of owning families. We also consider a wide range of factors highlighted by alternative accounts of acquisition likelihood, including resource dependence, institutional pressures, and principal-agent conflicts. The results provide support for our main theoretical arguments, even when controls related to alternative explanations are taken into account.