Do mergers and acquisitions affect the performance of acquiring firms? Evidence for Swiss small- and medium-sized firms

Arbeitspapier

This paper investigates the post-merger performance effects of mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Our study is based on a representative sample that includes all Swiss M&As that took place in the period 2006-2008. In contrast to previous studies in this field most of our M&As took place between SMEs. Our data allows us to investigate the impact of M&As not only on different measures of economic performance but also on innovation performance. For the empirical analysis we use a matching framework that accounts for endogenous selection. Based on the sample of all M&As we cannot find statistically significant performance effects of M&As for any of the four performance measures. However, we find some positive and statistically significant performance effects when we examine separately specific sub-samples of M&As, namely (a) the M&As with a relative size (as to sales) of the acquired firm of more than 25% of the acquiring firm and (b) the M&As that took place in 2006, i.e. the M&As with the largest time distance between M&A and performance measurement in our sample.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: KOF Working Papers ; No. 319

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior: General ; Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
• Subject: mergers and acquisitions ; economic performance ; innovation performance ; Übernahme ; Innovation ; Unternehmenswachstum ; Schweiz

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Arvanitis, Spyridon ; Stucki, Tobias
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): ETH Zurich, KOF Swiss Economic Institute
• (where): Zurich
• (when): 2012

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.3929/ethz-a-007560272
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/80855
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET