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When entering foreign markets, multinationals can acquire part of a foreign firm and can increase or decrease their equity stake over time. However, extant studies have mainly focused on equity stake acquired during initial market entry. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

This study fills this gap by using the Uppsala model to analyze six cases of international acquisitions of Finnish multinationals in global markets.

The authors found that firms change their equity stake in partially acquired foreign subsidiaries: when they have learned about the host country and businesses of the partially acquired firms, when they have gained target-specific experience, when they build trust and ensure relationship commitment and finally, when they jointly develop and exploit opportunities.

This study is one of the first to apply the Uppsala model to empirically analyze international acquisitions, thus paving the way for behavioral and process-oriented approaches. The study contributes to knowledge of post-entry strategies of multinationals.

This paper explores what differentiates success from failure in post-acquisition integration. It seeks to overcome some of the limitations of previous research by adopting a more holistic and dynamic examination of the process and by focusing on aspects that can be readily applied in practice. Four cases of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the global automobile industry are examined using secondary data and taking a grounded theory approach. The four cases comprise two pairs of successes and two pairs of failures. Two of the pairs comprise established multinational companies, while two others comprise emerging multinational companies’ acquisitions of Korean automakers; in each case, there was one successful M&A and one failure. It is inducted that what differentiates the successful cases from the failures is their different approaches to two common tensions in post-acquisition integration, namely, their approaches to integration strategy and people issues. A two-level framework is proposed in which post-integration is managed simultaneously and dynamically at the strategic and people levels. These inductive findings, if verified by a more broadly based empirical examination, will extend M&A theory by providing a more integrated and dynamic approach to post-acquisition integration, in which strategic and people perspectives are jointly taken into account and interact with each other, thereby creating value for both acquiring and acquired firms.

The land sector in Ghana, particularly skin lands acquisition and title registration are fraught with several issues including unreliable record-keeping systems and land encroachments. The paper explores the potential of blockchain application in skin lands acquisition and title registration in Ghana with the aim of developing a blockchain-enabled framework for land acquisition. The purpose of this paper is to use the framework as a tool towards solving some of the loopholes in the process that leads to numerous issues bedeviling the current system.

The paper adopts a systematic literature review approach fused with informal discussions with key informants and leverages on the researchers’ own experiences to conceptualize blockchain application in skin lands acquisition in Ghana.

Problems bedeviling skin lands acquisition and title registration emanated from the issuance of allocation notes, payment of kola money and use of a physical ledger to document land transactions. As a result, the developed framework was designed to respond to these issues and deal with the problems. As the proposed blockchain framework would be a public register, it was argued that information on all transactions on a specific parcel of land could be available to the public in real-time. This enhances transparency and possibly resolves the issue of encroachments and indeterminate land boundaries because stakeholders can determine rightful owners of land parcels before initiating transactions.

Practically, blockchain technology has the potential to deal with the numerous issues affecting the smooth operation of skin lands acquisition and title registration in Ghana. Once the enumerated issues are resolved, there will be certainty of title to and ownership of land and property to drive investments because lenders could more easily ascertain owners of land parcels that could be used as collateral for securing loans. Similarly, property developers and land purchasers could easily identify rightful owners for land transactions. The government would be able to identify owners for land and property taxation.

This paper contributes to the literature on blockchain and application to land acquisition and title registration with a focus on a specific customary land ownership system.

Drawing on the institutional theory and organizational learning literature, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between prior acquisition experience and the duration of the deal completion stage in cross-border acquisitions and the impacts of the quality of business institutions in the host country and the institutional distance between home and host countries on this relationship.

This study uses the sixth wave of mergers and acquisitions, the first truly global wave that covered a wide range of institutional settings, to test the hypotheses. Using a panel data regression method, it analyzes 8,175 cross-border acquisitions from 2003 to 2009, conducted by acquirers from 47 advanced and emerging economies in 56 advanced and emerging economies.

This study finds that host-country acquisition experience has more impact on shortening deal completion duration. Home-country acquisition experience is more effective in host countries with less developed business institutions than in those with more developed ones. The results of this study show that the quality of business institutions in the host country and the institutional distance between the home and host countries amplify or attenuate the effect of past acquisition experiences, depending on their origin and the quality of business institutions and institutional distance of where they are used.

The growing popularity of cross-border acquisitions among emerging country acquirers calls for a systemic study of the cross-border acquisition process. One of the critical and less understood stages in this process is the deal completion stage. This study examines how the institutional environments in the home and host countries impact the effectiveness of past acquisition experiences on shortening this stage.

Collaboration and acquisition have traditionally been observed as two alternative strategies when accessing external technologies. However, real option scholars have recently argued that firms can also engage in transitional technology sourcing trajectories where collaboration and acquisition are used as complementary strategies. While these real option scholars have identified factors that influence when partners are likely to shift from collaboration to acquisition, they remain silent on how such a transition can be effectively managed. Based on a multiple case study of four transitional technology sourcing trajectories between one new entrepreneurial and one established firm, this study therefore explores how the pre-acquisition collaboration stage and the post-acquisition integration are related to each other. Findings suggest that entrepreneurial companies may use the pre-acquisition collaboration stage as a period to evaluate the goodwill of the established partner. In addition, we point to the presence of pre-acquisition integration efforts and the extent of strategic convergence during the pre-acquisition collaboration stage as factors that substantially influence the success of the post-acquisition integration process in transitional governance trajectories.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&) are increasingly becoming a strategy of choice for companies attempting to achieve and sustain competitive advantage. However, not all M&As are a success. In this paper, we examine the three main reasons highlighted in the literature as major causes of M&A failure (clashing corporate cultures, absence of clear communication, and employee involvement) in three Indian pharmaceutical companies, and we analyze the role played by the HR function in addressing them. Also, we discuss the importance of gaining the commitment and focus of the workforce during the acquisition process through employee involvement.

Property often forms the biggest component of household wealth and assets. Irrespective of landowners’ willingness, the act of compulsory acquisition abruptly ceases the security that this ownership carries. This often induces dissatisfaction among affected landowners over the: loss of “property rights”; loss of commodity, or property; and loss of future opportunities associated with the property. Though there have been attempts in various land acquisition laws and a practice to compensate acquirees for their loss, the dissatisfaction of acquirees has persisted. The persisting resistance of landowners compels deeper insight into the process of compulsory purchase and the compensation mechanism to understand underlying causes for resistance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of involvement of these different stakeholders, at various stages in the compulsory purchase process, using stakeholder interaction analysis. Results obtained from this research will be helpful in identifying the gaps in the process of compulsory purchase of land for public projects in Australia.

A survey of ten different stakeholder groups has been conducted to inquire the level of interaction of different stakeholders at various stages of compulsory purchase process. A comparative study was then performed to identify the gaps between the advocated process (suggested in the literature) and the process adopted by stakeholders.

The results illustrate that: affected landowners seek involvement at the initial stage when the project plan is under preparation and compulsory purchase declaration are not finalised; objectors (from the public) seek opportunities to convey, to the public agency, their views even though the accountability of public agencies towards this stakeholder is nil; and strong interactions are established during negotiation over the compensation amount thus signifying the urge of acquirer and acquirees to avoid monetary losses and time delays.

This research will be useful in identification of pain points in the compulsory purchase process for public projects. This shall help in evolution of fairer mechanism of land acquisition.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the practice of program management can be used to manage strategically‐oriented initiatives such as mergers and acquisitions (M&As).

The methodology applied is high‐level reflective retrospective qualitative field research conducted by a practitioner‐scholar in response to the research question: How does the program management approach applied to a small‐scale acquisition compare to the current joint bodies of program management and M&A theory and practice?

The practice of program management provides a means for managing strategically oriented initiatives such as small‐scale acquisitions.

This paper is constrained by a high‐level literature review of English language publications only, and high‐level reflective retrospective qualitative field research conducted by a single practitioner‐scholar upon a single relatively small‐scale acquisition, which cannot necessarily be scaled up to be representative of a larger‐scale acquisition, nor given the differences between M&As be used as a direct template for other M&As. Also, as a purely qualitative field research study into an area of intermediate maturity, the response to the research question lacks statistical support.

M&As are increasing in frequency and yet continue to have relatively high‐failure rates. Based on the findings of this paper, the practice of program management provides a means of managing strategic initiatives such as acquisitions.

This paper adds to the bodies of program management and M&A literature, from the dual perspectives of practice and research, particularly with reference to small acquisitions and acquisitions in the small and medium enterprise sector.

This paper seeks to provide recent case study evidence for the remarkable growth of electronic resources in academic library collections and to analyze growth patterns and impacts.

A case study reviewed electronic resources growth at the University of Saskatchewan Library over a 12‐year time series, from 1996‐1997 to 2007‐2008. The researcher collected data from the library's databases A‐Z lists over the time series, compiled statistics and growth rates for both net holdings and new acquisitions, then analyzed and contextualized the results.

The study reveals three electronic resources growth or development stages corresponding to advances in electronic resource types – i.e. bibliographic, full text and reference – and a pattern of sustained rapid growth. It was found that growth doubled within the last four years of the time series, with ±100 resources being added annually in the same period. Both internal and external events impacted on growth. Just as internal and external events contribute to the growth of electronic resources, new events such as economic decline may contribute to growth decline.

While the study is limited to a single academic library case, it has applications to similar academic library profiles across North America, where sustained rapid growth has had a significant impact on reference workers and researchers.

This research provides a case study for describing electronic resources growth in academic libraries. The data and findings may help support funding increases, and an understanding of the extent of growth and its impact on reference workers and researchers.

Although generalizations from one case study cannot be made, this study of electronic resources growth and its implications substantiates the general conviction that overwhelming growth has occurred and that the consequences for library services and systems is considerable. The paper applies the concept of growth or development stages: bibliographic, full text and reference, to describe the evolution of electronic resources in an academic library.

First of two articles outlining the role of Internal Audit (IA) in acquisitions activity. The independence and objectivity of IA mean that it can contribute significantly to acquisitions activity, provided it has sufficient organizational status, and business awareness. In screening acquisition candidates, scrutiny of the business environment is as important as the analysis of results to date. The potential “fit” between the prospective parent and the subsidiary should be reviewed, as well as the suitability and readiness of the acquirer to manage diversified activities. Acquisitions provide a “high‐risk, high growth” path and IA should participate as early as possible in preparations for diversification.