The Concurrent Impact of Cultural, Political, and Spatial Distances on International Mergers and Acquisitions

Abstract

The paper explores the concurrent effects of cultural, political, and spatial distances on M&A flows occurring between any two countries belonging to the whole European Union (27 States) or to the European Neighbors group (16 States) over the period 2000-2011. By employing zero-inflated negative binomial specifications, entailing both a binary and count process, we adequately model the two different mechanisms which may generate zero observations in the cross-border bilateral deals. Zeros may be due to either the lack of any transactions or unsuccessful negotiations. We find robust evidence that the multi-dimensional distance between two countries negatively affects the probability that they will engage in M&A deals, while the recurrence rate of these deals is positively related to population, gross domestic product, and technological capital and negatively related to geographical distance.

Symmetric and asymmetric effects of proximities. The case of M&A deals in Italy

“…There is a huge literature on the determinants of M&As, as well as an increasing number of studies on M&A partnering that adopt, either implicitly or explicitly, a proximity framework (e.g. Böckermann and Letho, 2006;Eun and Mukherjee, 2006;Grote and Umber, 2006;Schildt and Laamanen, 2006;Chakrabarti and Mitchell, 2013;Di Guardo et al, 2013;Ellwanger and Boschma, 2013).…”

“…The effects of cultural and institutional proximity have also been taken up in M&A studies, but this concerns primarily international M&A deals across countries (Chapman, 2003). International acquisitions are influenced by differences in the institutional and cultural national frameworks, financial and exchange rates conditions, and prospects of entry in new foreign markets (Rossi and Volpin, 2004;Ragozzino, 2009;Di Guardo et al, 2013). Our paper focuses on domestic M&A instead, in order to assess the role of proximities within a more homogeneous national context.…”

“…There exists quite a number of studies on the determinants of M&A partnering that either implicitly or explicitly follow a proximity framework (e.g. Rodríguez-Pose and Zademach, 2003;Böckerman and Letho, 2006;Eun and Mukherjee, 2006;Grote and Umber, 2006;Schildt and Laamanen, 2006;Chakrabarti and Mitchell, 2013;Ragozzino, 2009;Di Guardo et al, 2013;Ellwanger and Boschma, 2013). We aim to make two contributions to this literature.…”

The Impact of Geographic Distance On Post-Acquisition Innovative Performance

“…Much of the existing literature on the post-acquisition innovative performance of a technological acquisition is built upon the assumption that firms exist in an 'aspatial world' (Howells and Bessant, 2012), insofar as the distance between the target and acquiring does not matter. Geography, however, is known to play a role in merger performance (see e.g., Green & Cromley, 1984;Hannan and Rhoades, 1987;Capron, 1999;Chapman, 2003;Böckerman and Lehto, 2003;Rhodrigues-Pose and Zaemach, 2003;Schildt and Laamanen, 2006;Eun and Mukherjee, 2006;Ragozzino, 2009;Di Guardo et al, 2013;Paci et al, 2013;Ellwanger and Boschma, 2013;Chakrabarti & Mitchell, 2013), and two literatures, in particular, suggest that the impact of geography may even be amplified in the case of a technological acquisitions.…”

Cross-border mergers and acqusitions of Chinese enterprises under the influence of regional integration and institutional distance

“…。而区域一体化效应， 即并购双方所属国家处于某一体化联盟中(如欧 盟、 东盟、 北约 ① 等)会鼓励企业进行更多的跨境并 购 (Breinlich, 2006;宗芳宇等, 2012;Moschieri et al, 2014)。该效应主要通过促进各国普通贸易联系以进 一步推动企业跨境并购发生 (Bertrand et al, 2006)。 但以多维邻近性和区域一体化效应为主的企 业跨境并购影响因素研究仍有继续提升的空间。 首先， 从区域一体化的视角分析中国企业跨境并购 的研究仍很少， 已有文献主要集中在西方国家。为 数不多关注到中国企业该行为的研究多从制度差 异 入 手 (Boisot et al, 2008;Zhang et al, 2011;Du et al, 2015)。事实上， 中国从 20 世纪 90 年代开始参与 区域一体化进程， 发展十分迅速， 至今已与全世界 20 多个国家或地区签署了 16 个自由贸易协定， 在 贸易、 投资等诸多方面开展了深度合作。因此， 区 域一体化对中国企业的跨境并购行为极有可能产 生 深 远 影 响 。 其 次 ， 制 度 差 异 研 究 以 案 例 分 析 (Knoerich, 2010) (徐婧, 2008; 陈 雯, 2009)， 在此基础上， 进一步推动了企业跨境并 购行为的产生。Viner(2014)指出， 区域一体化内部 各成员国之间存在 "投资创造" 和 "投资转移" 效应， 主要通过增加市场容量和提高投资审批效率以降 低双边投资门槛， 加强成员国间的投资往来 (Baldwin et al, 1995;Kox, 2004)。针对中国的研究发现， 与东盟等地区建立的自由贸易协定促进了中国面 向东盟国家的对外直接投资(陈雯, 2009; 汪占熬 等, 2013)。作为直接投资的重要形式， 跨境并购也 受到区域一体化的积极影响。大量研究认为， 区域 一体化能够加强区域间制度、 文化联系， 进而降低 企业跨境并购的交易成本(贺灿飞等, 2015)， 促进并 购行为发生 (Jonas, 1992;Neary, 2007;Buckley et al, 2016;Di Guardo et al, 2016)…”