MACMILLAN Mergers and Acquisitions: Rethinking Key Umbrella Constructs

This book provides scholars and practitioners in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) with a solid foundation for further research. M&As continue to shape the economic landscape across the globe. While there is already a huge body of scholarly work on the subject, findings appear contradictory and academics and practitioners often struggle to understand what factors make M&As successful. Due to the lack of an agreed-upon definition, research findings appear contradictory, while in fact they are often simply not comparable. To address this, the book rethinks how we measure key umbrella constructs. It specifically focuses on the conceptualization phase of the measurement process, often taken for granted in the current research. Review From the Back Cover “Olimpia Meglio and Svante Schriber have made significant contributions to our understanding of M&A providing them both perspective and credibility to assess our field and its opportunities. This book joins their prior contributions to provide a timely commentary on the primary constructs examined in M&A research and their evolution, as well as future applications.” ―Professor David R. King, Florida State University, USA “The insightful discussion in this book suggests that umbrella constructs can play a fruitful role in advancing the acquisition literature in a variety of ways, one of which is by helping to straddle the delicate tension between generalizability and precision. As such, the overarching message of this volume is fully in line with one of the author’s long-standing call for a methodological rejuvenation of the study of acquisitions.” ―Dr. Mario Schijven, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA “The work of Meglio & Schriber provides a helpful and much needed approach to make sense of and to synthesize the expanding, yet largely disparate, body of knowledge around M&As, via a focus on key constructs.” ―Prof. Satu Teerikangas, Turku School of Economics, Finland This book provides scholars and practitioners in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) with a solid foundation for further research. M&As continue to shape the economic landscape across the globe. While there is already a huge body of scholarly work on the subject, findings appear contradictory and academics and practitioners often struggle to understand what factors make M&As successful. Due to the lack of an agreed-upon definition, research findings appear contradictory, while in fact they are often simply not comparable. To address this, the book rethinks how we measure key umbrella constructs. It specifically focuses on the conceptualization phase of the measurement process, often taken for granted in the current research. About the Author Olimpia Meglio holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration. She is Associate Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Sannio, Benevento, Italy. Her research interests lie at the intersection of strategic and organizational issues in growth strategies. Her work has been published in leading academic journals, such as the Journal of Business Research, or R&D Management.  Svante Schriber holds a Ph.D. from the Stockholm School of Economics, and works as an Associate Professor at Stockholm Business School, Stockholm, Sweden. His research focuses on competitive strategy, particularly M&As. His interests include target selection, integration, and competitive dynamics in M&As. His work has been published in leading international journals, such as the Journal of World Business or Journal of Business Research.