Do we buy more or less when we want to learn? The knowledge strategies and structural forms of US cross-border acquisitions

Manuel Portugal Ferreira (), Stephen Tallman () and Dan Li ()
Additional contact information
Stephen Tallman: Richmond University
Dan Li: Kelley School of Business - Indiana University

No 6, Working Papers from globADVANTAGE, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria

Abstract: Cross-border acquisitions may be a primary mode for accessing novel knowledge and the building up of knowledge capabilities. However, the successful exploration of novel business and/or location knowledge may require specific structural forms for the incorporation and internal transfer to occur. In this paper we examine the relationship between the knowledge strategy and the structural form of the acquisition, specifically the degree of equity acquired. Our analyses of 439 US cross-border acquisitions revealed a curvilinear effect of location-related knowledge exploration but a linear effect of business-related knowledge exploration on the structural form of cross-border acquisition. We conclude that the knowledge strategy, and perhaps the type of knowledge being sought, is related in complex manners to the structural form adopted.

Keywords: cross-border acquisitions; knowledge strategy; equity ownership; structural forms; learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M0 M1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-cse and nep-knm
Date: 2007

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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pil:wpaper:6

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