什么影响了跨国并购后的创新绩效?--基于战略三脚架的组态分析

What Affects Cross-Border Post-Acquistion Innovation Performance?A Research Based on Strategic Tripod Configurations

许多新兴市场企业试图通过跨国并购实现技术创新。然而,究竟什么因素影响了跨国并购后的创新绩效,现有研究还没有给出较好的解答。本文基于战略三脚架框架,以2003~2013年沪深两市A股上市公司的海外并购为研究样本,采用模糊集定性比较分析方法,研究了由制度(文化距离和所有权性质)、行业(行业相关性)、资源(跨国并购经验和吸收能力)因素组成的不同条件组态与跨国并购后创新绩效的关系。本文有以下发现:第一,实现中国企业跨国并购后高创新绩效存在三条不同路径,具体为:制度-行业匹配型并购、制度-资源匹配型并购和制度-行业-资源匹配型并购。第二,在制度-行业匹配型并购和制度-行业-资源匹配型并购路径下,文化距离和跨国并购经验具有替代关系。第三,跨国并购后非高创新绩效的影响机制分为四条路径,并且与跨国并购后高创新绩效的影响机制存在非对称性关系。本文有助于进一步理解新兴市场企业跨国并购后创新绩效的影响条件。

It has always been a critical research topic to study what determines cross-border post-acquisition performance of the firm in the field of international business. Although existing research has discussed it from the institution,industry,and firm levels,there are still some research gaps: first,they ignore the causal complexity of the mechanism of multiple conjunctural antecedents of post-acquisition performance in the context of cross-border M&A,which leads more or less controversy in each level of research;second,most studies use traditional quantitative regression analysis in the research methods,there is little exploration on the integration analysis of post-acquisition performance by applying qualitative comparative analysis;third,research mainly focuses on the post-acquisition financial performance,and lacks the discussion of non-financial performance. Scholars have suggested that the influential mechanism of post-acquisition performance is causally complex,that is,the post-acquisition performance is the result of combined effect of multi-level factors. According to the strategic tripod framework,multinational enterprises’ behavior and performance are affected by multiple factors from three levels of institution,industry and resource. In addition,as a latecomer in the international market,an important motivation of firms from emerging markets through their cross-border M&A activity is to seek advanced technology and knowledge to achieve technological innovation. However,there are few studies that examine the relationship between configurations under different conditions composed of institutional,industry,resource factors,and cross-border post-acquisition innovation performance.Based on the strategic tripod framework,we test the model with a dataset of overseas acquisitions of A-share companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2002 to 2013. We investigate the relationship between configurations under different conditions composed of institutions (cultural distance and ownership),industry (industry relatedness),resources (experiences in cross-border mergers and acquisitions and absorptive capacity),and cross-border post-acquisition innovation performance,through a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method.The main findings of the paper are,first,there are three different paths: institution-industry coordinated acquisitions,institution-resource coordinated acquisitions,and institution-industry-resource coordinated acquisitions to realize high cross-border postacquisition innovation performance of Chinese enterprises. Second,under the path of institution-industry coordinated acquisitions and institution-industry-resource coordinated acquisitions,cultural distance can substitute cross-border merger experience. Third,the influence mechanism of a relatively lower level of post-acquisition innovation performance is divided into four paths,which verifies the existence of asymmetric causality compared with high cross-border post-acquisition innovation performance.We make three theoretical contributions. Firstly,it provides an empirical test of the strategic tripod framework composed of institution-based view,industry-based view,and resource-based view,which enriches the application of strategic tripod framework in the field of international business research. Secondly,the application of QCA to the research of post-acquisition performance not only provides a holistic perspective for better understanding the causal complexity on mechanisms of post-acquisition performance,especially on innovation performance,but also enriches the methodological tools in this field. Thirdly,it reveals three different paths or influence mechanisms to achieve high post-acquisition innovation performance,and provides a new explanation for the conflicting conclusions or viewpoints in the current literature.This paper also has practical implications for firms and governments. If firms try to improve their innovation performance through cross-border M&A,they must consider the internal and external conditions such as institution,industry and resources. For example,state-owned firms with low R&D expenditure should select the host country with a significant cultural difference and the firm related to own business or market as the target of M&A. For the firms with high R&D expenditure and rich experience in crossborder M&A,they should choose the host country with cultural differences as big as possible,and overseas firms unrelated to own business or market as the target. However,Firms with low R&D expenditure and experience in cross-border M&A,only engage in industry-related cross-border M&A,and this strategy is more beneficial for the state-owned firms. As for governments,under the background of national innovation-driven development strategy,policy-making departments should provide specific guidance and help for cross-border M&A of Chinese firms. On the one hand,intermediary organizations are encouraged to conduct research on cross-border M&A transactions with large cultural differences and issue corresponding research reports regularly. On the other hand,relevant policies should be introduced to encourage private forces or relevant industry associations to set up an overseas M&A exchange platform to promote the exchange and sharing of cross-border M&A experience. Considering the high causal complexity of post-acquisition innovation performance,future studies can incorporate other factors that have not been explored,such as industry competitiveness of the home country,institutional distance and target enterprises’ resources,to reveal a more complex and diverse configuration of antecedents. In addition,future studies could possibly look at a larger sample of more years and industries.