The Mack Institute Spring Conference 2017 explored how firms can deploy externally facing strategies for innovation success.…Read More
Leveraging Ecosystems, Investments, & Acquisitions to Keep an Innovative Edge
mergers and acquisitions
Revisiting the Locus of Experience: A Study on Corporate Development Executives, Organizational Learning and M&A Performance
In this project, I plan to study the questions of how firms learn and why they fail to learn in the context of post-merger integration. Existing works on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) argue that M&A is an important source of innovation and growth for firms. …Read More
From Invention to Innovation: A Multi-Study Investigation of Firm Strategy and Outcomes in Clinical Trials
The translation of invention to innovation is a topic that has received significant research attention in recent times. Scholars have recognized that our understanding of the factors that shape whether and when innovative technologies arise and transform industries cannot be complete without comprehending how scientific or technological discovery evolves into commercial adoption. …Read More
Make Room! Make Room! A Note on Sequential Spinoffs and Acquisitions
In this study, we identify a novel pattern of deal-making activity—spinoffs followed by acquisitions—that has yet to be analyzed in the corporate strategy literature. We present a set of descriptive results showing that firms undertake spinoffs followed by acquisitions at a rate that is too high to be attributable to random chance.…Read More
Knowledge Distance, Team Heterogeneity and Innovation: A Bridge Too Far?
How do entrepreneurial alliances shape new venture merger likelihoods and performance? This research is interested in exploring a knowledge mechanism which can cut both ways: as startups develop portfolios of alliance partners, there may be higher incentives for a given counterparty to try to acquire the startup so that it can mitigate the outflow of knowledge to other firms.…Read More
Will Dell’s Big Leap into the Cloud Pay Off?
After years of making incremental changes to transform itself from a personal computer and server player into a company that could offer a wider array of products and services, Dell is punting its piecemeal approach in favor of a system-wide repositioning of its business by acquiring storage behemoth EMC for $67 billion — the largest M&A deal ever between technology firms.…Read More
How Nokia Can Make the Most of the Alcatel-Lucent Deal
Executive Director Saikat Chaudhuri spoke with Knowledge@Wharton about Nokia’s high-profile merger with French firm Alcatel-Lucent.…Read More
The Real Motive Behind Big Pharma Mergers
The past year has seen several merger attempts by large pharmaceutical companies. Executive Director Saikat Chaudhuri weighs in on the motives behind these deals.…Read More
Mergers and Acquisitions: The Importance of Integration
When it comes to moving a business forward, the biggest gains are often a hair’s breadth away from the greatest risks—a truth reflected in discouraging change success rate statistics. A recent CNBC article highlights the even greater chance of defeat in the field of mergers and acquisitions, citing the Mack…Read More
Acqui-Hires: Revolutionizing Strategy & Transforming Organizational Structures
This paper explores the phenomenon of “acqui-hires”, defined as acquisitions of early-stage startups made purely to acquire talent. Acqui-hires are prevalent among Northern California’s high-technology companies, who use these to fill gaps in their strategic roadmaps. Taking the perspective of an acquirer, we examine the different ways acquirers approach acquir-hires relative to conventional acquisitions.…Read More