Mergers and Acquisitions Strategies for Industry Leaders, Challengers, and Niche Players: Interaction Effects of Technology Positioning and Industrial Environment

This study empirically investigates the merger and acquisition (M&A) strategies of focal firms by considering their market and technology position at the industry level. The results obtained using patents, firm M&A agreements, and the financial data of U.S. technology firms from 1997 through 2008 demonstrate how industry leaders, challengers, and niche players differ in their M&A strategic logic. Three industry environmental factors and two technology positioning factors exhibit different effects on firms' M&A strategies for varied market positions. The overall patterns reveal that niche players are more aggressive in leveraging their technology positions to adopt M&As for the purpose of acquiring access to external knowledge resources, while leaders tend to leverage their market positions and use M&As to further strengthen their market power. Challengers are more likely to engage in M&As when locating in unfavorable environmental markets, but they are less likely to engage in M&As when locating in technologically crowded areas.

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