Interdependencies in corporate development: Relationship between strategic alliance and acquisition activities

A substantial amount of work in the field of strategic management has attempted to explain the antecedents and outcomes of organizational learning. Though multinational corporations simultaneously engage in various types of tasks, activities, and strategies on a regular basis, the transfer of organizational learning in a multi-task context has largely remained under-explored in the literature. To inform our understanding in this area, this dissertation aimed at synthesizing findings from two parallel research streams of corporate development activities: strategic alliances and acquisitions. Structured in the form of two empirical studies, this dissertation examines: 1) the strategic outcomes of alliance experience of previously allying partners in terms of subsequent acquisition attempts, and 2) the performance implications of prior alliance experience for acquisitions. The first study draws on the relational view of inter-organizational governance to explain how various deal-specific and dyadic characteristics of a partnership relate to partnering firms' post-alliance acquisition attempts. This model theorizes on a variety of relational mechanisms to build a cohesive theory of inter-organizational exchanges in a multi-task setting where strategic alliances ultimately lead to a firm's decision to commit further resources. The second study applies organizational learning theory, and specifically examines whether frequency, recency, and relatedness of different dimensions of prior alliances, beyond the dyad-level experience, relate to an acquirer's superior post-acquisition performance. The hypotheses of the studies are tested using logistic and ordinary least square regressions, respectively. Results analyzed from a sample of cross-border alliance and acquisition deals attempted (for study I) and/or completed (for study II) during the period of 1991 to 2011 generally support the theory that relational exchange determines acquiring firms' post alliance acquisition behavior and that organizational routines and learning from prior alliances influence a future acquirer's financial performance. Overall, the empirical findings support our overarching theory of interdependency, and confirm the transfer effect of learning across these alternate, yet related corporate strategies of alliance and acquisition.^

Effect of Hydrologic Restoration on the Habitat of The Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow, Annual Report of 2004-2005

The major activities in Year 3 on ‘Effect of hydrologic restoration on the habitat of the Cape Sable seaside sparrow (CSSS)’ included presentations, field work, data analysis, and report preparation. During this period, we made 4 presentations, two at the CSSS – fire planning workshops at Everglades National Park (ENP), one at the Society of Wetland Scientists’ meeting in Charleston, SC, and a fourth at the Marl Prairie/CSSS performance measure workshop at ENP. We started field work in the third week of January and continued till June 3, 2005. Early in the field season, we completed vegetation surveys along two transects, B and C (~15.1 km). During April and May, vegetation sampling was completed at 199 census sites, bringing to 608 the total number of CSSS census sites with quantitative vegetation data. We updated data sets from all three years, 2003-05, and analyzed them using cluster analysis and ordination as in previous two years. However, instead of weighted averaging, we used weighted-averaging partial least square regression (WA-PLS) model, as this method is considered an improvement over WA for inferring values of environmental variables from biological species composition. We also validated the predictive power of the WA-PLS regression model by applying it to a sub-set of 100 census sites for which hydroperiods were “known” from two sources, i.e., from elevations calculated from concurrent water depth measurements onsite and at nearby water level recorders, and from USGS digital elevation data. Additionally, we collected biomass samples at 88 census sites, and determined live and dead aboveground plant biomass. Using vegetation structure and biomass data from those sites, we developed a regression model that we used to predict aboveground biomass at all transects and census sites. Finally, biomass data was analyzed in relation to hydroperiod and fire frequency.

Interdependencies in Corporate Development: Relationship between Strategic Alliance and Acquisition Activities

A substantial amount of work in the field of strategic management has attempted to explain the antecedents and outcomes of organizational learning. Though multinational corporations simultaneously engage in various types of tasks, activities, and strategies on a regular basis, the transfer of organizational learning in a multi-task context has largely remained under-explored in the literature. To inform our understanding in this area, this dissertation aimed at synthesizing findings from two parallel research streams of corporate development activities: strategic alliances and acquisitions. Structured in the form of two empirical studies, this dissertation examines: 1) the strategic outcomes of alliance experience of previously allying partners in terms of subsequent acquisition attempts, and 2) the performance implications of prior alliance experience for acquisitions. The first study draws on the relational view of inter-organizational governance to explain how various deal-specific and dyadic characteristics of a partnership relate to partnering firms’ post-alliance acquisition attempts. This model theorizes on a variety of relational mechanisms to build a cohesive theory of inter-organizational exchanges in a multi-task setting where strategic alliances ultimately lead to a firm’s decision to commit further resources. The second study applies organizational learning theory, and specifically examines whether frequency, recency, and relatedness of different dimensions of prior alliances, beyond the dyad-level experience, relate to an acquirer’s superior post-acquisition performance. The hypotheses of the studies are tested using logistic and ordinary least square regressions, respectively. Results analyzed from a sample of cross-border alliance and acquisition deals attempted (for study I) and/or completed (for study II) during the period of 1991 to 2011 generally support the theory that relational exchange determines acquiring firms’ post alliance acquisition behavior and that organizational routines and learning from prior alliances influence a future acquirer’s financial performance. Overall, the empirical findings support our overarching theory of interdependency, and confirm the transfer effect of learning across these alternate, yet related corporate strategies of alliance and acquisition.