Mergers, acquisitions, and strategic alliances as collaborative methods of strategic development and change

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.2317
• Date: 01 March 2020
• Published date: 01 March 2020
• Author: Emanuel Gomes

OVERVIEW ARTICLE

Mergers, acquisitions, and strategic alliances as collaborative

methods of strategic development and change

Emanuel Gomes

Nova School of Business and Economics,

Universidade Nova, Portugal

Correspondence

Emanuel Gomes, Nova School of Economics

and Business, R. Holanda No. 1, 2775-405

Carcavelos, Portugal.

Email: emanuel.gomes@novasbe.pt

Abstract

This overview article briefly discusses the importance and implications of collabora-

tive methods of development. It provides an overview of the various alternative col-

laborative methods available and highlights the main critical success factors

associated with the management of the strategic change processes which these often

are. While providing an overview of each paper, this article highlights the importance

of a multi-disciplinary approach and highlights the interconnectedness between a

variety of factors and their performance implications. To conclude, avenues for fur-

ther research are suggested to further strengthen the view of a more pluralistic,

multi-disciplinary, multi-phasic, and interconnected approach to external collabora-

tive methods of development.

In recent years, the number of collaborative arrangements such as

mergers, acquisitions, strategic alliances, joint ventures, global value

chains, and business model restructuring have increased significantly,

in response to the increasing uncertainty of markets, fast technologi-

cal changes, diversification of customer needs and preferences, and

shorter product life cycles (Bustinza, Gomes, Vendrell-Herrero, &

Baines, 2019; Chung, Lu, & Beamish, 2008). As a result, external col-

laborative methods of development have become the preferred

method of growth ahead of internal organic growth (Chiao, Lo, & Yu,

2010). These have been used by companies as methods for enacting

major strategic change, managing risk, speeding up product develop-

ment, reaching higher levels of synergies and economies of scale, and

achieving the necessary growth to survive and compete in ever-

increasingly global markets (Eaves, Kumar, White, & Loonam, 2018;

Vendrell-Herrero, Gomes, Bustinza, & Mellahi, 2018; Vendrell-Her-

rero, Parry, Bustinza, & O'Regan, 2014). This evolution has fuelled the

growth of large-scale firms and the consolidation of various industries

at national and global levels.

However, despite their increasing popularity amongst practi-

tioners and scholars, their overall success rate of failure remains dis-

mal (Checkley, Steglich, Angwin, & Endersby, 2014; Gomes, Weber,

Brown, & Tarba, 2011; Papadakis & Thanos, 2010; Weber, Tarba, &

Reichel, 2011). This raises the question as to whether collaborative

growth methods are preferable to internal organic modes of develop-

ment (Chiao et al., 2010; Gada & Popli, 2018) and, if so, what are the

main factors that contribute to their success or failure. It is undoubt-

edly acknowledged that these collaborative methods of development

represent major forms of strategic change and are complex in nature.

As such, M&A, strategic alliances, joint ventures, global value chains,

and business model restructuring pose serious challenges to both

managers and scholars as they require an understanding of complex

multiphase processes and multifaceted inter-organizational relation-

ships (Angwin, Mellahi, Gomes, & Peter, 2016; Angwin & Vaara, 2005;

Gomes, Angwin, Weber, & Tarba, 2013; Harwood & Ashleigh, 2005;

Meglio & Risberg, 2010). Therefore, managers and academics alike are

required to acquire and develop specific skills and knowledge about

the management of such collaborative processes.

The existing body of knowledge on the topic pinpoints a variety

of critical success factors involved in the management of M&A (see

Gomes et., 2013) and strategic alliances (see Gomes, Barnes, &

Mahmood, 2016). However, the literature has tended to focus sepa-

rately on either pre-agreement factors or post-agreement factors,

instead of examining the linkages throughout the entire process. The

failure to study the interconnection between various factors associ-

ated with the pre- and post-agreement phases inhibits our ability to

understand the performance implications of M&A and alliances in

general and the influence of each of the associated critical success

factors in particular. On the contrary, the ability to link the factors

JEL Classification code: G34.

DOI: 10.1002/jsc.2317

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