Dating before marriage? Analyzing the influence of pre-acquisition experience and target familiarity on acquisition success in the "M&A as R&D" type of acquisition

Summary This study analyzes the "M&A as R&D" type of acquisition addressing the question whether acquisition experience and target familiarity influence the post-acquisition integration success in terms of innovation. We measure the influence of general acquisition experience of the acquirer, pre-acquisition alliance experience with the target, and sector familiarity of the target on the post-acquisition patent rate of the acquirer. The results of our event history analysis of the complete U.S. biotech population for 1973-2000 indicate that general acquisition experience and target familiarity increase the post-acquisition patenting speed.