Study on the Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions Engaged by Born Globals

• Main Authors: Pijan Wu, 吳必然
• Other Authors: 黃恆獎
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/85762545411553011260

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 國際企業管理組 === 96 === Cross-border M&As involving born globals are under-researched, leading to the following questions: (1) When do born globals engage in M&A? (2) What is the role of M&A for the growth of born globals? (3) Are there any distinguishing features of the M&As engaged by born globals? (4) Do born globals with different characteristics, such as the founder’s financial capability or the business models for local establishment, fare differently in terms of growth pattern and M&A? Propositions are made based on literature review and empirical studies. Then, this paper studies 15 cases involving born globals and cross-border M&As. Based on the case studies, this paper examines the propositions and comes up with a number of findings, from which conclusions are drawn and managerial implications are suggested. Major findings are as follows: (1) Born globals’ internationalization relies more heavily on M&A than other companies, in order to realize their strategy of reaching the global market early. (2) Some born globals factor in M&As for their growth strategy and may be a sub-group termed “M&A-driven born globals”. (3) Most of born globals’ cross-border M&As are conducted at the global and offshore level (i.e., having access to multiple markets at once), rather than for the foreign entry into each individual country. (4) Born globals with different characteristics, e.g., financial capability of the founders, may experience different growth pattern involving M&A. However, most born globals will be acquired or merged by larger, better-established MNEs, as opposed to growing up to be large firms by their own earnings and expansion. There is a number of limitation on the research of this paper: (1) The 15 cases studied in this paper are mostly Internet-enabled firms. (2) The number of cases is limited. (3) The data for M&A, cross-border and domestic, is insufficient. Areas for future research may include: (1) How would different M&A structures, e.g., LBO, MBO, Cash v. share swap, impact on the growth pattern of born globals? (2) The propositions suggested in this paper may be tested in other sectors. (3) Government policies and laws/regulations on cross-border M&A may be studied to find out whether the country-level factors are important for the growth pattern of born globals.