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The purpose of this paper is to identify possible tax synergies from acquisitions when the acquiring firm gains a non‐debt tax shield (NDTS) not directly associated with its own past performance, or a windfall NDTS. One possible benefit of a windfall NDTS is reduced reliance on interest tax shields to lower the firm's marginal tax rate (MTR).

This paper tests the likelihood of issuing debt following acquisitions of windfall non‐debt tax attributes with logistic regressions. Both acquirers and targets are publicly held US firms. Acquisitions are completed from 1987 to 2003, and debt issues are observed following the deal. Target firm tax attributes are defined as the total tax spread, tax loss carryforward (TLCF), and the MTR.

Target firm tax spread and TLCFs are inconsequential to the acquirer's likelihood of issuing future debt, suggesting that tax synergies are relatively unimportant motives for acquisitions. As predicted, the target firm MTR is not significant to acquirer debt issues.

This paper makes several contributions. First, the notion of tax synergies from acquisitions is unresolved. This paper continues the search for tax synergies in acquisitions by examining the importance of acquired NDTS in the post‐acquisition period. Second, this paper examines the influence of NDTS on debt issuance in a post‐event framework. Third, this paper provides additional evidence that corporate managers have leverage targets.

Family businesses dominate the economic landscape and contribute to the market for corporate control across the globe, either as acquiring companies or as target. However, there is still limited research investigating acquisitions by or of family firms. The authors begin to remedy this gap by providing a narrative review of extant research. Findings indicate that acquisitions in family firms are primarily regarded as a tool to solve succession problems, and not as a strategic tool to achieve growth. A greater dialog between acquisition and family business scholars can be an important means to improve theory and practice of acquisitions involving family businesses across the globe.

Acquisition of products and services from contractors consumes about a quarter of discretionary spending governmentwide and is a key function in many federal agencies. In fiscal year 2005 alone, federal government contracting involved over $388 billion. The work of the government is increasingly being performed by contractors, including in emergency and large-scale logistics operations such as hurricane response and recovery and the war in Iraq. Many agencies rely extensively on contractors to carry out their basic missions. The magnitude of the government's spending and dependence on contractors make it imperative that this function be performed as efficiently and effectively as possible. Yet, acquisition issues are heavily represented on GAO's list of government highrisk areas. In the 21st century, the government needs to reexamine and evaluate its strategic and tactical approaches to acquisition. To identify and discuss the key issues confronting the federal acquisition community, the Comptroller General hosted a forum in July 2006 that brought together acquisition experts from inside and outside the government. Participants shared their insights on challenges and opportunities for improving federal acquisition in an environment of increasing reliance on contractors and severe fiscal constraint.

The contribution revisits existing research on human impacts on the performance of mergers and acquisitions. Findings are grouped into three categories: individual-, organizational- and managerial-related factors. Results show that while research seems various and abounding, influential factors are often studied as static setting approached in isolation, without measuring their direct relation to post-acquisition outcomes.

Services acquisition in the US Department of Defense (DoD) has continued to increase in scope and dollars in the past decade with over $200 billion spent for services in 2008. In this empirical study, we conducted a web-based survey to collect primary data on management practices in services acquisition in the U. S. Navy and studied such areas as contract characteristics, management approaches, and program management issues. The paper presents summary results of our survey, implications of current management practices, and recommendations useful for improving services acquisition in the Navy.

In 2006, the U.S. Defense Acquisition Executive approved a program at the Naval Postgraduate School to solicit, evaluate, and fund proposals for innovative and scholarly acquisition research. This paper presents an exploratory analysis of proposals from 2007 to the present. It seeks to provide an understanding of the types and sources of research proposals, and the extent to which the programʼs goal has been achieved. Cluster and trend analyses classify and examine the data according to several key aspects, such as: topical area (e.g., contracting, logistics); research type (e.g., exploratory, hypothesis testing); research design (e.g., case study, experiment); and type of analysis (e.g., comparative, statistical). The results show positive trends, but the number of institutions with interest in defense acquisition remains low, suggesting that it remains a limited niche research topic.

Decribes how ESC, a holding company for a gas and electric utility and non‐utility energy business, completed the acquisition of Oracle’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution (finance and related applications) at a cost of US$6.5 million in March 1997. From initiation to completion, the acquisition took approximately six months. The structure of the acquisition process that emerged from the data revealed six distinctive iterative, recursive and inter‐related processes that, together, form a complex web of activity and tasks for the acquisition of ERP software. These activities and tasks are described and analyzed as a function of the six processes. The ERP acquisition process developed by ESC for this acquisition was non‐typical of their normal procurement practices and proved to be a significant learning experience for the entire organization. This case provides a useful illustration of “good practice” and sets forth the framework for the ERP acquisition process.

This chapter aims to make sense of the growing research that examines the role of culture in mergers and acquisitions. We provide a detailed review of the many related but distinct constructs that have been introduced to the literature. While each construct has contributed to our understanding of the role of culture, the lack of connections made among constructs has limited the consolidation of contributions. The review shows what these constructs mean for mergers and acquisitions, what major findings have been discovered, and, most importantly, how constructs interrelate. Our discussion provides several opportunities to foster the needed consolidation of this research.

This paper concentrates on the antecedents of external knowledge acquisition of companies based on their inter-organizational relationships. Specifically, it considers social capital (i.e., the result of a firm’s inter-organizational relationships) as an essential precursor of knowledge identification capabilities and deliberated knowledge acquisition strategies. This study aims to propose that cognitive and relational dimensions of a firm’s inter-organizational social capital are mediating factors of the relationship between structural social capital and knowledge identification capabilities and the relationship between structural social capital and the deliberated acquisition of external knowledge, respectively. The relationship between knowledge identification capability and external knowledge acquisition is also analyzed.

This is a cross-sectional quantitative study with a sample of 87 firms from Spanish biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. From an extensive literature review, we developed three hypotheses that were tested using the partial least squares technique and structural equations model.

The results only support a mediating effect of cognitive social capital in the relationship between structural social capital and knowledge identification capability and a partial mediation effect of relational social capital in the relationship between structural social capital and knowledge acquisition. In addition, the findings show that firms with more advanced abilities to identify and assess the value of external knowledge will be likely to develop optimal deliberated strategies to acquire effectively such knowledge from its network partners.

The limitations of this study are small sample size and the cross-sectional nature of the study. The study also focuses on only two specific and innovative industries.

Managers should understand that “good” management of inter-organizational social capital allows the firm to develop dynamic capabilities for the identification and acquisition of valuable knowledge. The results of the study show that managers should concentrate on building knowledge identification capabilities and should also be aware of the possibilities that social capital can provide to a firm to formulate and implement effective strategies for external knowledge acquisition.

To date, there are relatively few studies focussing on knowledge identification capability and its relationships with the dimensions of a company’s social capital as enablers of external knowledge acquisition. For managers, the identification of valuable knowledge by using inter-organizational relationships and networks is an essential issue, especially in innovative industries characterized by continuous change. Theoretically, this research highlights that social capital contributes to the development of dynamic capabilities, allowing the firm to sense and seize business opportunities based on external knowledge acquisition to achieve competitive advantages.

Keller Manufacturing, a mid‐sized furniture manufacturer, completed the purchase of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solution in August of 1996 at a cost of US$1 million. From 12 individuals who participated on Keller’s acquisition team, the four principals were interviewed for this case. The structure of the acquisition process that emerged from the data revealed six distinctive iterative, recursive and inter‐related processes that, together, form a complex web of activity and tasks for the acquisition of ERP software. These activities and tasks are described and analyzed as a function of the six processes. The ERP acquisition process developed by Keller for this purchase was atypical of their normal purchasing practices and proved to be a significant learning experience for the entire organization. This case provides a useful illustration of “good practice” and sets forth the framework for the ERP acquisition process.