Mergers and acquisitions play an important role in international financial markets, which explains why this research area attracts of lot of attention from academics, bankers, and investors. Generally, in takeovers, two firms merge in order to achieve specific strategic and business objectives. The ultimate goal is often, but not always, the creation of shareholder value. In many cases, the creation of shareholder value is not the primary objective of the managers, however, which is one of the reasons why takeovers have been associated with the destruction of value in several existing studies. Instead, many M&A decisions are a function of managerial behaviour. In this thesis, I investigate the drivers of M&A activity, and consider both purely rational (neo-classical) and behavioural reasons as managers’ motivations for getting involved in M&A transactions. The thesis’s main body consists of three empirical studies that investigate how M&A activity is driven by macro-economic forces, managerial behaviour and board networks. Chapter 3 investigates whether merger waves are driven by macro-economic determinants and financial markets; Chapter 4 tests whether envy among CEOs has any explanatory power over the appearance of merger waves; Chapter 5 looks at whether board networks affect the relative merits of acquisitions and the probability of acquiring firms in “linked” industries. More specifically, Chapter 3 tests the extent to which US and UK merger waves are driven by macro-economic and financial market factors. Besides the analysis of domestic M&A activity, I also study the drivers of cross-border acquisitions between the UK and the US. I disentangle M&A activities according to how they are financed, and test whether managers follow market timing strategies when engaging in M&A transactions. I find evidence that domestic takeovers in the US and in the UK are highly correlated with the credit cycle and moderately correlated with the business cycle. I also test wave patterns in US and UK merger waves, and find that the merger waves in the two countries are significantly related to each other. Chapter 4 considers the view that irrational managerial behaviour could trigger UK merger waves. In particular, I assume that CEOs assess their own situation relative to those of their peers. If a CEO earns less than his peers, he becomes envious. Since it is established in the literature that firm size and executive compensation are positively correlated, CEOs have an incentive to engage in size-increasing mergers in order to decrease any compensation differential. Cross-sectional envy should therefore be considered as a potential explanation for merger waves. In an interdisciplinary approach, I develop a new measure for envy that is based on theories borrowed from the sociology area. My results from comprehensive tests with this new measure show that envy is unlikely to be an explanation for UK merger waves. Chapter 5 uses social networking theory to examine possible benefits for the acquirer from being well-connected. I assume that strong board networks are associated with better and faster access to information. Building on this rationale, I hypothesize that well-connected acquirers make better acquisitions due to reduced information asymmetries between them and the target. This chapter examines whether board interlocks between the acquirer and the target, existing prior to the acquisition, are associated with superior cumulative abnormal returns for the acquirer. Using centrality measures from social networking theory, I test whether firms that are well-connected make better acquisitions, as measured by the announcement returns of the acquirer. I find acquirer-target board interlocks to be significantly and positively associated with the acquirer’s cumulative abnormal returns. Centrality measures, however, turn out not to have any significant impact on the acquirer’s stock price reaction. Lastly, I show that acquirers are significantly more likely to acquire firms from industries with which they are “linked” via board members that have multiple directorships.

Microfranchising is emerging as a potentially powerful strategy for reaching the enormous markets at the base of the pyramid (BOP). Microfranchising also represents an effective and sustainable way to contribute to poverty alleviation and economic growth. However, we know little about how organizations maneuver contradictory forces as they use this innovative business model to engage the BOP. To address this gap, I offer a longitudinal case study of an emerging microfranchise effort by a successful Mexican agribusiness—one whose ambitions to continue growing were challenged by multinational agrochemicals suppliers. As this project shows, companies and BOP markets can realize mutual benefits from a value co-creation strategy. Specifically, I adopted a dialectical approach to analyze the tensions and competing forces that arose as business managers and local BOP distributors and producers collaborated in this emerging microfranchising venture. As a result, the research offers three contributions. First, it provides a detailed empirical account of how contradictory forces shaped the Mexican agricultural firm’s implementation of microfranchising to engage with BOP farmers. Second, it presents a conceptual synthesis that describes the major contradictory forces a company faces as it implements microfranchising as part of its BOP strategy. Finally, it offers lessons for how business managers can maneuver contradictory forces to co-create value with the BOP through microfranchising.

<p>In this dissertation, I develop and test a theory linking the legacy motive to entrepreneurship. After examining evidence in support of the desire to make a lasting impact as a source of motivation for the founders of new organizations, I propose that the importance of this motive has been overlooked, due to a lack of conceptual clarity regarding the legacy construct. I argue that examining the relationship between entrepreneurship and the legacy motive contributes greatly to understanding of both phenomena. I develop a theory of entrepreneurial legacies, in which I explain how understanding the connection between the legacy motive and entrepreneurship requires recognizing the variety of lasting impacts different people can choose to pursue. I then examine the implications of the different desired legacies for the entrepreneurs and their organizations, particularly for critical funding decisions at the beginning of the new venture, and for decisions related to succession, when the organization needs to replace the founder. Next, I conducted two studies to examine the effects of the legacy motive on entrepreneurial decision making. In the first study, I tested the relative strength of the legacy motive among firm founders and those who work for others. I developed new measures of the intended benefits and beneficiaries of a legacy, to examine their relationship to each other and related variables using an online sample of engineers. I found that engineers high on the legacy motive are more likely to indicate founding the firm they currently work for, own more of their current employer, and have filed more patents. In the second study, I conducted a qualitative examination of medical startups, examining the processes that led executives in these firms to the current stage of their careers, and the elements of their work lives that they experience as meaningful. Finally, I discuss the implications of the link between the entrepreneurship and the legacy motive, and the different ways in which people define what makes these two constructs meaningful.</p> / Dissertation

Cette recherche doctorale a pour objectif de clarifier les apports de la fonction marketing à la stratégie générale de l’entreprise. Il s’agit de comprendre comment se réalise le lien entre les deux fonctions – marketing et stratégie, dans le contexte spécifique d’une entreprise ayant créé une direction de marketing stratégique. En nous fondant sur la théorie du lien marketing-stratégie et sur les apports des sciences cognitives, nous avons proposé un cadre théorique intégratif basé sur la notion de représentation. D’un point de vue méthodologique, la cohérence entre la problématique, les données auxquelles nous avons accès et la nature du phénomène étudié, nous ont conduit à privilégier une démarche de recherche qualitative. Nous avons choisi l’étude de cas unique comme méthode de collecte des données et nous nous sommes appuyés sur l’observation participante comme démarche d’accès au terrain. Notre recherche a mis en relief l’émergence successive de trois types de représentations du lien marketing-stratégie, les facteurs qui influencent leur transformation et leurs conséquences. Finalement, la lecture transversale de nos résultats nous permet d’enrichir le cadre théorique initial par la prise en considération de variables liées à l’architecture des activités marketing, à la culture d’entreprise, à l’apprentissage organisationnel ou encore au rôle des dirigeants. / This doctoral research aims to clarify the contribution of the marketing function to corporate strategy. We want to uncover the link between these two fields - marketing and strategy, in the specific context of a company having a strategic marketing department. We bring together the theory of marketing-strategy interface and the contributions of cognitive science, in order to propose an integrative theoretical framework centered on the notion of managerial cognition. From a methodological point of view, the consistency between our research question, the available data and the nature of the phenomenon, led us to adopt a qualitative research approach. We chose a single case study combined with a participant observation as a method of data collection and analysis. Our research has highlighted the emergence of three successive types of mental models of marketing-strategy interface, the factor that influence their transformation and their consequences. To conclude, our results allows us to enrich the initial theoretical framework by some emergent themes relative to the architecture of marketing activities, the corporate culture, the organizational learning and the role of the marketing manager.

Complex adaptive systems are usually difficult to design and control. There are several particular methods for coping with complexity, but there is no general approach to build complex adaptive systems. The challenges of designing complex adaptive systems in a highly dynamic world drive the need for anticipatory capacity within engineering organizations, with a goal of enabling the design of systems that can cope with an unpredictable environment. This thesis explores this question of enhancing anticipatory capacity through the study of a complex adaptive system design methodology and complexity management competencies. A general introduction to challenges and issues in complex adaptive systems design is given, since a good understanding of the industrial context is considered necessary in order to avoid oversimplification of the problem, neglecting certain important factors and being unaware of important influences and relationships. In addition, a general introduction to complex thinking is given, since designing complex adaptive systems requires a non-classical thought, while practical notions of complexity theory and design are put forward. Building on these, the research proposes a Complex Systems Life-Cycle Understanding and Design (CXLUD) methodology to aid system architects and engineers in the design and control of complex adaptive systems. Starting from a creative anticipation construct - a loosening mechanism to allow for more options to be considered, the methodology proposes a conceptual framework and a series of stages to follow to find proper mechanisms that will promote elements to desired solutions by actively interacting among themselves. To illustrate the methodology, a financial systemic risks infrastructure systems architecture development case study is presented. The final part of this thesis develops a conceptual model to analyse managerial complexity competency model from a qualitative phenomenological study perspective. The model developed in this research is called Understanding-Perception-Action (UPA) managerial complexity competency model. The results of this competency model can be used to help ease project manager’s transition into complex adaptive projects, as well as serve as a foundation to launch qualitative and quantitative research into this area of project complexity management.

No description available.

The objective of this study was to examine whether the factors which constitute the manufacturer/industrial-representative relationship, influence performance as predicted by control theory. In addition, the study evaluated the contribution of selected demographic factors such as size of the firm, and the representative's experience, on performance.

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the effects of activity-based costing (ABC) and activity-based management (ABM) on managerial and employee behavior.

The two problems which motivate this research concern the role of managerial accounting information in performance evaluation. The first problem is that the processing of accounting information by individual managers may deviate from a normative (Bayesian) pattern. Second, managers' use of accounting information in performance appraisal may contribute to conflict between superiors and subordinates. In this research, I applied the contrast-inertia model (C-IM) and attribution theory (AT) to predict how accounting information affects managers' beliefs about the causes for observed performance. The C-IM describes how new evidence is incorporated into opinions. Application of the C-IM leads to the prediction that information order may influence managers' opinions. Attribution theory is concerned with how people use information to assign causality, especially for success or failure. Together, the C-IM and AT imply that causal beliefs of superiors and subordinates diverge when they assimilate accounting information. Three experiments were performed with manufacturing managers as subjects. Most of the subjects were middle-level production managers from Texas manufacturing plants. The subjects used accounting information in revising their beliefs about causes for performance problems. In the experiments, the manipulated factors were the order of information, subject role (superior or subordinate), and the position of different types of information. The experimental results were analyzed by repeated measures analyses of variance, in which the dependent variable was an opinion or the change in an opinion over a series of evidence items. The experimental results indicate that the order of mixed positive and negative information affects beliefs in performance evaluation. For mixed evidence, there was significant divergence of opinions between superiors and subordinates. The results provide little evidence that superior and subordinate roles bias the belief updating process. The experiments show that belief revision in performance evaluation deviates from the normative standard, and that the use of accounting information may cause divergence of opinions between superiors and subordinates.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of managerial experience on the relationships between assertiveness, trait anxiety, and internality, and on each of these constructs individually. Hypotheses were as follows: a) managers would be more assertive, internal, and less trait anxious than business students; b) males would be more assertive than females when students, not managers; and c) assertiveness and internality would relate positively to each other and negatively to trait anxiety. Subjects consisted of 30 managers and 53 business students. The first and third hypotheses were confirmed, although the assertiveness differences were not significant. Reasons for the observed outcome are discussed as well as implications for these constructs' ability to predict management potential.