IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i16p12136-d1213017.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can Mergers and Acquisitions Promote Technological Innovation in the New Energy Industry? An Empirical Analysis Based on China’s Lithium Battery Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Jingyi Zhong

    (School of Management Science, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
    School of International Education, Tianfu College of Southwest University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 610000, China)

  • Weide Chun

    (School of Management Science, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China)

  • Wu Deng

    (School of Management Science, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China)

  • Hui Gao

    (School of Business, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
    Energy and Environment Policy Research Center, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China)

Abstract

The advancement of technological capabilities within lithium battery enterprises crucially facilitates the high-quality development of the new energy industry. This study aims to empirically investigate the impact of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) on the technological innovation capacities of these enterprises, with a specific focus on the lithium battery sector in China. Utilizing data from 34 publicly listed companies spanning the period from 2012 to 2022, we employ the multi-period double-difference method for comprehensive analysis. Researchers have observed that the implementation of merger and acquisition (M&A) strategies by new energy companies leads to an approximately 1.5 percentage point increase in their technological innovation level. However, the improvement in the green technological innovation level is not significant. After a series of robustness tests, the aforementioned conclusion remains valid. Additionally, with the enhancement of firms’ knowledge absorption capacity and regional intellectual property protection, M&A activities can further promote technological innovation in new energy companies and contribute to the enhancement of green technological innovation. Heterogeneity analysis has revealed that technological M&A crucially facilitates the improvement of technological innovation levels among listed companies in the lithium battery industry. Implementing M&A strategies not only benefits the enhancement of firms’ technological innovation levels but also significantly fosters green technological innovation. Furthermore, further research has indicated that changes in the level of green technological innovation after the implementation of M&A strategies by new energy companies facilitate the reduction of industrial wastewater and sulfur dioxide emissions. The main innovation of this study, which utilizes new energy companies as the research object, is as follows: it reveals the causal relationship and regulatory mechanism between M&A, technological innovation, and green technological innovation in new energy companies. Furthermore, the study analyzes the mechanism that promotes green technological innovation in new energy companies from the intellectual property protection perspective. Moreover, it assesses the heterogeneous impacts of changes in both technological innovation levels and green technological innovation levels on environmental governance after the implementation of M&A activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Jingyi Zhong & Weide Chun & Wu Deng & Hui Gao, 2023. "Can Mergers and Acquisitions Promote Technological Innovation in the New Energy Industry? An Empirical Analysis Based on China’s Lithium Battery Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-25, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:16:p:12136-:d:1213017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/16/12136/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/16/12136/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xianna Hong & Qiuhua Chen, 2022. "Research on the Impact of Merges and Acquisition Type on the Performance of Listed Agricultural Enterprises—An Analysis of Mediator Effect Based on R&D Input," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-23, February.
    2. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    3. Vincent L. Barker , III & George C. Mueller, 2002. "CEO Characteristics and Firm R&D Spending," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(6), pages 782-801, June.
    4. Jing-Wen Huang & Yong-Hui Li, 2017. "Green Innovation and Performance: The View of Organizational Capability and Social Reciprocity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(2), pages 309-324, October.
    5. Denicolò, Vincenzo & Polo, Michele, 2018. "Duplicative research, mergers and innovation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 56-59.
    6. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Lerner, Josh, 2010. "The Financing of R&D and Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 609-639, Elsevier.
    7. Manuel Monge & Enrique Cristobal & Luis A. Gil-Alana, 2021. "How Lithium Prices Affect Mergers and Acquisitions in the Lithium Industry," Review of Development Finance Journal, Chartered Institute of Development Finance, vol. 11(1), pages 26-34.
    8. John Hagedoorn & Geert Duysters, 2002. "External Sources of Innovative Capabilities: The Preferences for Strategic Alliances or Mergers and Acquisitions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(2), pages 167-188, March.
    9. Gautam Ahuja & Riitta Katila, 2001. "Technological acquisitions and the innovation performance of acquiring firms: a longitudinal study," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 197-220, March.
    10. Granstrand, Ove & Sjölander, Sören, 1990. "The Acquisition of Technology and Small Firms by Large Firms," Working Paper Series 213, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    11. Mirko H. Benischke & Geoffrey P. Martin & Lotte Glaser, 2019. "CEO equity risk bearing and strategic risk taking: The moderating effect of CEO personality," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 153-177, January.
    12. Cassiman, Bruno & Colombo, Massimo G. & Garrone, Paola & Veugelers, Reinhilde, 2005. "The impact of M&A on the R&D process: An empirical analysis of the role of technological- and market-relatedness," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 195-220, March.
    13. Granstrand, Ove & Sjolander, Soren, 1990. "The acquisition of technology and small firms by large firms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 367-386, June.
    14. Hong Zhu & Qi Zhu, 2016. "Mergers and acquisitions by Chinese firms: A review and comparison with other mergers and acquisitions research in the leading journals," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 1107-1149, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Li, Hongmei & Xu, Ruizhe, 2023. "How does digital finance affect the efficiency of urban green economies? Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PD).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Frey, Rainer & Hussinger, Katrin, 2006. "The role of technology in M&As: a firm-level comparison of cross-border and domestic deals," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2006,45, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    2. Phanish Puranam & Harbir Singh & Saikat Chaudhuri, 2009. "Integrating Acquired Capabilities: When Structural Integration Is (Un)necessary," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(2), pages 313-328, April.
    3. Wagner, Marcus, 2011. "To explore or to exploit? An empirical investigation of acquisitions by large incumbents," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1217-1225.
    4. Arroyabe, M. F. & Hussinger, Katrin & Hagedoorn, John, 2020. "Hiring new key inventors to improve firms' post-M&A inventive output," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-029, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    5. Sears, Joshua B., 2018. "Post-acquisition integrative versus independent innovation: A story of dueling success factors," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1688-1699.
    6. Sears, Joshua B. & Hitt, Michael A., 2023. "Post-acquisition integrative invention and differences in the quality of target and acquirer technological capabilities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    7. Marcela Miozzo & Lori DiVito & Panos Desyllas, 2011. "Cross-border acquisitions of science-based firms: Their effect on innovation in the acquired firm and the local science," DRUID Working Papers 11-17, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    8. Méndez Ortega, Carles, & Teruel, Mercedes, 2018. "To acquire or not to acquire: Mergers and Acquisitions in the Software Industry," Working Papers 2072/307043, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    9. Jason Li-Ying & Yuandi Wang & Lutao Ning, 2016. "How do dynamic capabilities transform external technologies into firms’ renewed technological resources? – A mediation model," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 1009-1036, December.
    10. Cefis, Elena & Marsili, Orietta, 2012. "Going, going, gone. Exit forms and the innovative capabilities of firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 795-807.
    11. Shafique, Muhammad & Hagedoorn, John, 2022. "Look at U: Technological scope of the acquirer, technological complementarity with the target, and post-acquisition R&D output," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    12. Torsten Gerpott, 2009. "Forschung & Entwicklung und technologieorientierte Unternehmensakquisitionen," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 9-41, May.
    13. Katia Angue & Cécile Ayerbe & Liliana Mitkova, 2014. "A method using two dimensions of the patent classification for measuring the technological proximity: an application in identifying a potential R&D partner in biotechnology," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 39(5), pages 716-747, October.
    14. Brueller, Nir N. & Ellis, Shmuel & Segev, Eli & Carmeli, Abraham, 2015. "Knowing when to acquire: The case of multinational technology firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 1-10.
    15. Kathryn Rudie Harrigan & Maria Chiara Guardo & Elona Marku, 2018. "Patent value and the Tobin’s q ratio in media services," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 1-19, February.
    16. Shuwaikh, Fatima & Dubocage, Emmanuelle, 2022. "Access to the Corporate Investors' Complementary Resources: A Leverage for Innovation in Biotech Venture Capital-Backed Companies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    17. Signori, Andrea & Vismara, Silvio, 2018. "M&A synergies and trends in IPOs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 141-153.
    18. Park, Jinho & Choi, Byungchul & Huang, Wei, 2023. "Innovation under debtor-friendly institutional policy: Strategic patenting perspective of Chinese listed firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    19. Carles Méndez-Ortega & Mercedes Teruel, 2020. "To acquire or not to acquire: the effects of acquisitions in the software industry," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 793-814, July.
    20. Burger, Anže & Hogan, Teresa & Kotnik, Patricia & Rao, Sandeep & Sakinç, Mustafa Erdem, 2023. "Does acquisition lead to the growth of high-tech scale-ups? Evidence from Europe," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:16:p:12136-:d:1213017. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.