CSR, receptet för en lyckad M&A transaktion? : En kvantitativ studie om hur effekterna av företagens sociala ansvar påverkar M&A transaktioner

Sammanfattning: Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine whether the awareness of social- and environmental factors could be beneficial within M&A transactions in such that companies tend to obtain a higher success in such transactions if they are aware of these factors. The study also examines whether the actual return by the event date strikes higher for the social- and environmental aware companies than the unaware companies, where the event date is when the M&A transaction was due. Method: The authors have chosen to use two different methods; the Event Study- and Panel Study methods. The event window consists of five days before- and five days after the due date of the M&A, which makes it a total of 11 days. The estimation window is based on the 30 days before the event window and is examined in order to obtain an expected return of which is not affected by the event. The sample is based on international, Swedish companies which has undergone a M&A with a non- Swedish company, and is connected to the UN’s initiative Global Compact. Theory: The authors have chosen to apply the Efficient Market Hypothesis and besides that, a developed model based on a current one, the Merger Management Model. The difference between the models is that the Merger Management Model is based on tangible factors whereas the developed model, Social and Environmental Merger Management Model, is based on intangible factors. The chapter starts with the Efficient Market Hypothesis and then continues with the Merger Management Model and an explanation of the social- and environmental factors. The chapter ends with an explanation of the factors’ impact on companies and culminates onto the developed model. Conclusion: The outcome shows that companies of which are aware of social- and environmental risks, have incentives to a higher success rate in M&A transactions than companies that are unaware of these risks. The results of the hypothesis test made in this study strengthens the conclusion since the outcome of the p-value almost reached 64 percent, which means that there most likely is a correlation between the companies’ awareness of the social- and environmental factors and their success in M&A transactions.