With its inception at the end of the nineteenth century as a means of consolidation and reorganization, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have since become quasi-institutionalized as one of the primary strategic options for organizations, as they seek to secure their position in an ever more competitive and globalizing market place. Despite the optimism surrounding M&A as strategic moves, research on post-merger company performance suggests that most firms engaging in M&A activity do not achieve the sought-after performance targets, either immediately or in the years following the deal. What is it that drives M&A activity when research results do not support the performance expectations of these undertakings? Alternatively, have M&A scholars got it all wrong in the way that M&A performance is measured? Is the topic too complex, enduring, and multifaceted to study? The Handbook argues that the field of M&A is in need of a re-rooting: past research needs to be critically reviewed, and fundamental assumptions revisited. A key issue preventing efforts in the practice and study of M&A from achieving dynamic syntheses has been the disciplinary gulf separating strategy, finance, and human relations schools. The Handbook aims to bridge the hitherto separate disciplines engaged in the study and practice of M&A to provide more meaningful results. Toward this end, the Handbook brings together a set of prominent and emerging scholars and practitioners engaged in the study of M&A to provide thought-provoking, state of the art overviews of M&A through four specific 'lenses' - strategic, financial, socio-cultural, and sectorial approaches. By summarizing key findings in current research and exploring ways in which the differing approaches could and should be 'synthesized', it aims to highlight the key issues facing M&A practitioners and academics at the dawn of the third millennium.
1. Introduction ; SECTION I: A STRATEGIC LENS FOR M&A ; 2. A Review of the Merger and Acquisition Wave Literature ; 3. M&A Typologies: A Review ; 4. Creating Value through M&A: Challenges and Opportunities ; 5. Unbundling Acquisition Performance: How Do they Perform and How Can This Be Measured? ; 6. Acquisitions, Acquisition Programs and Acquisition Capabilities ; SECTION II A FINANCIAL LENS FOR M&A ; 7. Pre-deal Management ; 8. Value Creation and Value Appropriation in M&A Deals ; 9. Structuring the Transaction ; 10. Acquiring Distressed and Bankrupt Concerns ; 11. Takeover Strategies, Competitive Bidding and Defensive Tactics ; 12. Leveraged Buyouts ; 13. Shareholder Value: a Driver of M&A Activity ; SECTION III: A SOCIO-CULTURAL LENS FOR M&A ; 14. Post-M&A Integration: An Overview ; 15. Individual Response to Mergers and Acquisitions ; 16. Culture in M&A: A Critical Synthesis and Steps Forward ; 17. Country Cultural Differences in Acquisition Management ; 18. Knowledge Management in Mergers and Acquisitions ; 19. A Social Identity Analysis of Mergers and Acquisitions ; 20. Power and Politics in M&A ; 21. Silent Forces Shaping the Performance of Cross-border Acquisitions ; SECTION IV: A SECTORIAL LENS FOR M&A ; 22. Characteristics of Emerging Market Mergers and Acquisitions ; 23. Financial Mergers and Acquisitions: From Regulation to Strategic Repositioning to Geo-economics ; 24. Mergers between Professional Service Firms: How the Big 8 Became the Big 5 ; 25. Examining Resource and Expectational Ambiguity in Technology M&A Integration ; 26. Characteristics of Biotechnology Mergers and Acquisitions ; SECTION V: SYNTHESIS ; 27. A Synthesis ; APPENDIX 1: M&A MOTIVES, DEFINITIONS, AND DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS
