Forschung & Entwicklung und technologieorientierte Unternehmensakquisitionen

Acquisitions and innovation through research & development (R&D) are growth strategies, which are likely to be closely intertwined. The present paper reviews 44 empirical investigations which have looked at R&D behaviors of buyer and target companies as drivers of the likelihood of technology-related acquisitions (TRA). Further, it analyzes empirical studies which have explored the impacts of such transactions on R&D spending or R&D/corporate innovation performance criteria. The review suggests a rejection of popular claims that a TRA is significantly triggered by a weak R&D position of the buyer and leads to lower R&D inputs and outputs of the transaction partners. These allegations do not sufficiently acknowledge the subtleties of the interrelations between R&D and a TRA. Rather, the evidence implies that management scholars and practitioners should scrutinize (1) R&D/technology absorptive capacities of the acquiring firm, (2) combination opportunities and substantive overlaps of the transaction parties’ R&D themes and (3) management interventions to transform acquisition-based R&D value creation potentials into real value after the formal deal closure. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2009