Performance of Serial Acquirers in the European Region - the role of Specialized Experience
Sammanfattning: The designated purpose of this thesis is to investigate the impact of specialized experience, defined as the number of previous completed acquisitions with sufficient target-to-target similarity within certain acquisition dimensions, on acquisition performance, represented by abnormal returns on the stock market. We find a significant negative relationship between acquisition performance and both absolute experience, taking no regard for target-to-target similarity, and specialized experience within the cultural acquisition dimensions, measured on country level. Further, for specialized experience within the industry dimension and size dimensions, we find no support for a positive relationship existing, rather the empirical results lean towards a negative connection. The research within this thesis has been conducted through a quantitative study on a data set containing 392 individual, publicly quoted serial-acquirers from the European countries, combined conducting 1 898 deals. Our findings provide added support for the theory of generalization, showing that gaining experience from having performed previous acquisition with high target-to-target similarity to the focal acquisition, increases the likelihood of acquirers generalizing around the acquisition process and applying incorrect inferences to the focal acquisition. In order to avoid generalization and reap benefits from having acquisition experience, management of serial-acquirers should use the acquisition experience to set up internal processes and structures that counteract the unconscious acts of generalization.
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