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Mergers & acquisitions and the acquirer-target cultural differences

Author

Listed:
  • Wai-Ming Fong

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

  • Kevin C. K. Lam

    (Hang Seng Management College)

  • Pauline W. Y. Wong

    (Hang Seng Management College)

  • Yiwei Yao

    (Hang Seng Management College)

Abstract

We investigate the impacts of cultural environment on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the U.S. To measure the cultural environment of a firm, we use several variables of cultural dimension widely adopted in the literature, mainly the percentage of religious adherents and the percentage of Republican supporters in the county where the firm is headquartered. We compute alternative summary variables to proxy for the overall differences in cultural environment between firms. We find that the bigger cultural differences between two firms, the less likely that the firms will start an M&A negotiation. However, once an M&A negotiation has started, the cultural differences have a small positive impact on the negotiation success rate, a significantly positive impact on the immediate abnormal return of the target, and a small positive impact on the long-run abnormal return of the acquirer, but no negative impacts on other negotiation outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Wai-Ming Fong & Kevin C. K. Lam & Pauline W. Y. Wong & Yiwei Yao, 2019. "Mergers & acquisitions and the acquirer-target cultural differences," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 633-661, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:rqfnac:v:53:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s11156-018-0761-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11156-018-0761-2
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    Cited by:

    1. Lawrence, Edward R. & Raithatha, Mehul & Rodriguez, Ivan, 2021. "The effect of cultural and institutional factors on initiation, completion, and duration of cross-border acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    2. Hertel, Tobias & Kaya, Devrimi & Reichmann, Doron, 2024. "Corporate culture and M&A deals: Using text from crowdsourced employer reviews to measure cultural differences," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    3. Kevin H. Kim & Derek K. Oler & Juan Manuel Sanchez, 2021. "Examining the stock performance of acquirers where the acquirer or target hold patents," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 185-217, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    M&A; Cultural environment; Cultural distance; USA;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics

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