Abstract
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Stefan Wengler, Gabriele Hildmann and Ulrich Vossebein
The majority of business-to-business companies are working on their digital transformation in sales. Despite enormous transformation efforts, the expected productivity gains are…
Abstract
Purpose
The majority of business-to-business companies are working on their digital transformation in sales. Despite enormous transformation efforts, the expected productivity gains are often missing in most companies. Based on empirical research, this paper aims to develop a new market-oriented transformation model. Management implications as well as future research directions are derived for a more focused digital transformation process in sales.
Design/methodology/approach
Within the exploratory research study, 90 key informants were interviewed to provide better insights in the context of digital transformation in sales. The accuracy of the research results was safeguarded by triangulation.
Findings
As this research paper will show, the reasons for the missing productivity gains caused by a limited knowledge about the main success factors of digital transformation as well as a lack of understanding of digital transformation as an evolving process.
Originality/value
Based on the empirical research, a new market-oriented transformation model is developed and management implications as well as future research directions are derived for a more focused digital transformation process in sales.
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François Fulconis, Laurence Saglietto and Gilles Paché
The paper aims to put forward a transactional center approach to the four‐party logistics (4PL) development. For about ten years, the European logistics industry has indeed been…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to put forward a transactional center approach to the four‐party logistics (4PL) development. For about ten years, the European logistics industry has indeed been undergoing massive changes by which dematerialized logistics service providers, also called 4PL, have become more and more important. Special emphasis is placed on their role of intermediary between the supply chain members, on the basis of the implementation of inter‐organizational information systems (IOS).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper goes over the research literature on 4PL referring to the info‐mediation and intermediation processes. The accent is on the electronic brokerage application and on the main hindrances to 4PL development. Three propositions are put forward concerning a relevant research program.
Findings
The findings in this paper show that understanding 4PL's strategy dynamics requires going into the specific details of the role of transactional center. Thus, thanks to the effective management of IOS, some 4PL could become the hub firms of network organizations. To do that, they will have to acquire a thorough expertise on selecting network members and monitoring supply chain interfaces.
Originality/value
In this paper a preliminary framework provides elements of discussion to enable a better understanding of the transformation process of the logistics industry. The interest for managers and academics is to illustrate how 4PL are becoming the agents for strategic change, while an excessive importance is usually attached only to manufacturers and large retailers in the academic literature.
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Deepak Kumar and Keya Sengupta
The purpose of this study is to provide a broad understanding of the pre-completion stage and subsequent abandonment of mergers and acquisitions (M&As).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to provide a broad understanding of the pre-completion stage and subsequent abandonment of mergers and acquisitions (M&As).
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 117 peer-reviewed, English language articles published in scholarly journals were considered in the review. The approach includes a descriptive evaluation of the literature, coupled with content analysis. The paper uses both positivist and constructivist approaches to qualitative research. The analysis is conducted with the help of R programming and Gephi visualization software. The authors organize the work around the event of outcome/closure of deal proposal.
Findings
It is found that earlier studies sampled on domestic M&As in developed economies (DEs). However, the interest of scholars has increased in cross-border deals and emerging economies (EEs) in the last decade. Various factors interact and facilitate the completion/abandonment of good and bad deals. The authors find that complex non-linear relationships exist, and there is a need for studies with other classification techniques focusing on predictive accuracy.
Research limitations/implications
The literature review is limited to articles available to the researcher using search terms related to M&A completion/termination. The databases accessed were: ProQuest, Scopus and Web of Science. However, backward snowballing was performed to avoid the omission of relevant articles.
Originality/value
The findings and subsequent discussions familiarize researchers and practitioners with an overview of research undertaken in the field of M&A abandonment. The authors find voids within the literature and suggest future research agendas.
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Elisa Labbas, Padma Rao Sahib and Trang Thu Doan
Many announced cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are never brought to completion despite potential negative consequences to acquirers and targets. This paper presented…
Abstract
Many announced cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are never brought to completion despite potential negative consequences to acquirers and targets. This paper presented evidence on the dynamic effects of spatial distance and two industry-level characteristics, namely industry relatedness between the two firms and technological intensity, on the completion likelihood of cross-border M&A deals. Based on a sample of 8,489 M&A transactions we found that the completion likelihood of cross-border M&As increases with spatial distance. The effect is more pronounced for deals across technology-based industries, evidence for related deals is inconclusive.
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Olimpia Meglio, David R. King and Elio Shijaku
Acquisitions are complex and ambiguous events fraught with information asymmetries emphasizing market failure before an acquisition or organizational failure during integration…
Abstract
Acquisitions are complex and ambiguous events fraught with information asymmetries emphasizing market failure before an acquisition or organizational failure during integration. While often treated in isolation, market and organization failure are intertwined in acquisitions as integration planning starts before a deal is closed. Effective integration begins with a deep understanding of the target to be able to share assets and knowledge. However, acquiring firms currently have limited solutions to address information asymmetries. Most remedies primarily aim at market failure using due diligence and external advisors, leaving information asymmetry due to organizational failure primarily unattended. The authors develop a typology that leverages informal and formal social ties to address information asymmetries across the acquisition process that jointly considers market and organizational failure. The typology of this study combines existing research to develop how social ties with stakeholders influence acquisitions and can increase their success.
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Trang Thu Doan, Padma Rao Sahib and Arjen van Witteloostuijn
The authors investigate the pre-merger process, defined as the period between the announcement and completion of an M&A (mergers and acquisitions) deal. Specifically, the authors…
Abstract
The authors investigate the pre-merger process, defined as the period between the announcement and completion of an M&A (mergers and acquisitions) deal. Specifically, the authors examine if the timing of the announcement in a merger wave affects whether or not the M&A deal is completed, and how long this pre-merger process takes. The authors conduct a textual analysis of the 150 largest abandoned M&A deals in the sample. From this, the authors find that competing bidders, regulatory concerns, and shareholder opposition from the acquirer are major roadblocks in the pre-merger process, and that these hurdles often occur jointly. Subsequently, the authors examine a sample of 2,802 announced M&As across four industry waves and find that M&A deals initiated earlier in a merger wave are more likely to be completed and are completed more speedily.
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Le Wang, Lars Schweizer and Björn Michaelis
In a contribution to the emerging research examining Chinese cross-border acquisitions (CBAs), the authors observe experiential learning applications for enhancing M&A…
Abstract
Purpose
In a contribution to the emerging research examining Chinese cross-border acquisitions (CBAs), the authors observe experiential learning applications for enhancing M&A completions. By emphasizing knowledge transfer, the authors reveal how target-to-target industry similarity and bidder-to-target cultural distance affect learning outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a binary logistic regression model, the authors examine a sample of CBA attempts announced by Chinese companies from January 2002 to December 2012 to identify the variables that affect the completion of CBAs.
Findings
The authors find that foreign acquisition experience but not domestic acquisition experience enhances subsequent acquisition attempts, especially when prior and focal target companies share the dominant industrial logic. Learning transfer is negatively affected when target countries are more culturally distant from China, but learning benefits appear to increase under strong bidder-to-target cultural distance.
Originality/value
By investigating learning in the precompletion stage in Chinese outward CBAs, the authors complement research that uses postacquisition performance to assess learning. The authors’ more fine-grained characterization reveals that acquisition experience increases knowledge transfer through experiential learning. Furthermore, the authors show that dominant industrial logic and cultural distance are underexplored contextual conditions, although they interact with foreign and domestic experience to affect the completion of CBAs.
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David R. King, Wei Shi and Brian L. Connelly
An obvious way to improve acquisition performance is to avoid completing value-destroying acquisitions. However, once announced, manager motivations often focus on completing…
Abstract
An obvious way to improve acquisition performance is to avoid completing value-destroying acquisitions. However, once announced, manager motivations often focus on completing acquisitions. The authors develop how external governance actors can interpret acquisition characteristics and make counter-signals that acquiring firm managers could use to improve acquisition outcomes. The authors specifically develop how managers may react to counter-signals by shareholders, media, analysts, and short sellers. While there is limited research considering these external governance actors, evidence suggests that managers’ reactions to these actors may vary. A more integrated assessment of external governance actors’ influence on acquisition completion offers an opportunity to better understand acquisition processes and performance.
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Jochem T. Hummel and Nima Amiryany
This study focuses on intra-industry determinants of acquisition performance. Seven years of printed research on acquisitions from 10 top-tier business journals is categorized on…
Abstract
This study focuses on intra-industry determinants of acquisition performance. Seven years of printed research on acquisitions from 10 top-tier business journals is categorized on the basis of R&D intensity – that is, per industry classification: high-, medium-, and low-technology – and determinants of acquisition performance. Instead of broadly generalizing acquisition performance determinants across industries, this study focuses on how the practice of enhancing acquisition performance is different per industry classification and what acquiring firms need to take into account.