Search results

The purpose of this paper is to compare the value creation of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in mature and emerging markets.

The empirical study is based on a sample of 285 cross-border M&As announced between 2010 and 2012 and completed by companies of the French SBF 120 index in 54 countries.

The statistical analysis shows how financial markets react before and after the announcement of M&As. The obtained findings highlight significant differences: the reaction of financial markets before the announcement is moderately positive for M&As in mature economies, but negative for those in emerging economies; their reaction after the announcement is clearly positive for M&As in mature markets and moderately positive for those in emerging markets.

Future studies on M&A value creation should differentiate mature and emerging economies and adopt a more in-depth classification of target countries.

This research emphasizes the necessity to consider country-specific factors for M&A value creation.

The empirical study is based on a sample of French acquirers, who account for 3 percent of the volume and value of M&As in the world and whose operations are rarely studied in the literature. The authors compare the reaction of financial markets before and after the announcement of M&As conducted in mature and emerging economies.

This exploratory research aims to identify the types of social networks established by German and French expatriates.

The authors use the concepts of social capital and social networks, as well as the societal and cultural approaches, to investigate the way expatriates develop their social networks. The authors' empirical study is based on 40 semi-structured interviews conducted with German and French expatriates.

The authors' findings show that German expatriates mainly establish professional networks, whereas their French counterparts also focus on personal networks. They further indicate that managing social capital lies within the individual responsibility of German expatriates, whereas it is part of higher education institutions in France.

The authors highlight the way German and French expatriates manage their social networks and provide novel insights into the role played by higher education systems and the cultural characteristics of their home country context.

This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of how multinational companies can succeed the reconfiguration of their internal structures. The theoretical framework is based on the concept of reconfiguration as a dynamic capability, the Uppsala evolution model and the business network view.

The authors conducted a case study on the reconfiguration of two vertically-related business units within the Solvay group, a world leader in the chemical industry. The empirical study is based on interviews, observations and secondary data.

The paper shows how a multinational enterprise can succeed in reorganizing its internal structures to overcome internal liability of outsidership and to be more competitive and profitable. The reconfiguration enabled Solvay to become a fully integrated leader in the polyamide plastics industry.

The paper explains how the internal reorganization has improved the competitiveness and profitability of the integrated business units.

This paper aims at extending the debate on family firm internationalization by identifying cycles and waves of their internationalization processes with a specific focus on de-internationalization and re-internationalization.

Building on the Uppsala model and the resource-based view, this study analyzes the cycles and waves of internationalization of 26 German family firms in the Chinese market. Semi-structured interviews with top managers of the selected case firms were conducted, and secondary sources were used to triangulate the collected data.

The findings highlight the heterogeneity of family firm internationalization processes. Indeed, some family firms follow the sequential approach of the Uppsala model, while others choose to de-internationalize and then re-internationalize their activities. Their cycles and waves of internationalization can be explained by internal and external triggers.

This article contributes to the family firm internationalization literature by investigating how family firm characteristics and environmental factors shape internationalization, de-internationalization and re-internationalization paths. The novel findings enrich theoretical assumptions on family firm internationalization and highlight their varying internationalization processes, which can be explained by firm-specific characteristics, notably their unique family resources and socioemotional wealth, and contextual factors.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors affecting the choice between joint ventures and non‐equity alliances, when firms enter foreign markets.

Using a database of Italian firms compiled by the authors with 879 observations, the paper tests the possible effects of firm specific characteristics, host country institutional characteristics and cultural distance on alliance mode choice.

Using both transaction cost analysis and the resource based view, the findings demonstrate the crucial role played by firm size as well as by institutional and political features of host countries. The results concerning the role of functional activities involved and the industrial sector are mixed.

Overall, the analysis shows that it is necessary to develop a more integrated approach to understand this complex choice made by firms when expanding abroad.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether characteristics of French organizations can be found in the Airbus Group, ancient European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) Group, and how these characteristics have evolved over time in comparison to German ones.

This article presents an in-depth case study by using a contextual approach, considering influential factors which are likely to influence the evolution of organizations.

The analysis shows that the Airbus Group reflects characteristics of French organizations: the importance of strategy, the principle of honour, centralization of decision and power, the role of the state in the capital and its influence via professional networks of its elite coming from the Grandes Ecoles. These findings confirm a relative continuity of national peculiarities over time. The recent evolution of the company also highlights the German influence, notably in terms of shares and management positions.

The case study demonstrates that the Airbus Group has become a multinational company where contextual elements and organizational structures regulate intercultural relationships of interests, influence and power.

Five contextual factors are proposed, which allow to understand and structure the peculiarities of French organizations, in comparison to German ones as well as power distribution within the Airbus Group.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of location in the relationships established between headquarters and foreign subsidiaries.

The empirical study is based on three in‐depth case‐studies of French multinationals. The authors conducted 31 interviews with managers from both the headquarters and foreign subsidiaries.

The findings of the study indicate that headquarters‐subsidiaries relationships are shaped by the location of subsidiaries in emerging economies, and more specifically by the cultural, administrative, geographic and economic distance between the headquarters and foreign subsidiaries.

The analysis focuses on new challenges faced by multinational enterprises (MNEs) from mature economies, considering the growing importance of subsidiaries located in emerging countries.