Title: Small and medium size firms top management teams' decision-making in global acquisitions

Authors: Timothy Kiessling; Michael Harvey; Miriam Moeller; Andrew Hebdon

Addresses: Isletme Fakultesi, Bilkent University, TR-06800, Bilkent/Ankara, Turkey. ' Department of Management, School of Business Administration, University of Mississippi, 352 Holman Hall, MS 38766, USA; School of Business and Technology, Bond University (Australia) Robina, Queensland, Australia. ' School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Queensland (Australia), Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia. ' University of Mississippi, 320 Holman Hall, P.O. Box 1848, MS 38677-1848, USA

Abstract: The new global marketplace has caused changes in some organisations'/industries' forms and execution of strategy and reliance on international personnel. Entry and success through the accumulation of knowledge in the global marketplace have become the impetus for sustainable competitive/developmental advantage for many corporations. Many organisations choose a strategy focusing on international acquisitions in foreign markets to compete effectively in the current ever-changing dynamic competitive landscape. After acquisition, the monitoring of the operations of the new international subsidiary by US firms typically is an ethnocentric example of applying home-country standards and controls. We suggest that the top management leader (TMT) of a firm is a valuable resource, needs to be retained, and that ethnocentric monitoring must be reconsidered. This research focuses on the TMT and their value to the firm to help explain the variation in acquisition success. Thus, post-acquisition integration and monitoring must account for this valuable asset.

Keywords: global M&A; mergers and acquisitions; top management teams; leadership; TMT; dynamic capabilities; performance monitoring; international acquisitions; international subsidiaries; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs; decision making.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTIS.2011.044906

International Journal of Transitions and Innovation Systems, 2011 Vol.1 No.4, pp.346 - 366

Published online: 30 Sep 2014 *

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