The Impact of Innovation on M&A Performance

This work analyzes the role of innovation in M&A deals. On this topic literature is controversial. Some authors considered M&As as "poison pills" for innovation due to lack of resources and time managers can devote to innovation . Some others claimed that, under particular circumstances, an M&A can favor a right recombination of skills that can produce innovative outcomes. Starting from the critical review of these issues, my work would try to support the thesis that innovation can be produced from a M&A deal, evaluating the impact of innovation on M&A performances and describing how innovation can be managed. These questions have been answered through an inductive study focused on the analysis of 40 large M&A deals of the last decade. The main conclusions support the theories that consider M&As as opportunities to achieve innovativeness. It has been found that when companies have complementary skills, the potential innovative outcome and the achievable performances are higher. This research shows that there could be different profitable patterns of innovation management, which spread a peculiar type of innovation and require specific arrangements.