Entrepreneurial Integration Skills: Knowing What You Acquire to Integrate It
Mergers and Acquisitions, Entrepreneurship and Innovation
ISBN: 978-1-78635-372-6, eISBN: 978-1-78635-371-9
Publication date: 13 October 2016
Abstract
Acquisition integration is important to realize synergies and to achieve acquisition success. However, there is a lack of clarity on pertinent integration approaches suggesting that integration is more complex and dynamic than traditionally assumed. In this chapter, we shed light on ambiguous cause effect relationships by investigating the effect of integration related decisions on intermediate goals. Additionally, we argue that entrepreneurial integration skills, or proactivity under ambiguity, are needed to keep pace with the dynamism inherent in acquisition integration. Based on primary data on 116 acquisitions, we find that entrepreneurial integration skills can display both advantages and disadvantages. While it helps to realize expected and serendipitous synergies, it can also trigger employee uncertainty due to decreased transparency. In supplementary analysis, we show measures to outperform with various integration approaches. Implications for management research and practice are identified.
Keywords
Citation
Bauer, F., Schriber, S., King, D.R. and Uzelac, B. (2016), "Entrepreneurial Integration Skills: Knowing What You Acquire to Integrate It", Mergers and Acquisitions, Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Technology, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Competitive Strategy, Vol. 15), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-067X20160000015002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited