Overseas M&A integration, innovation networks and home-country industrial technology innovation: case studies from China

Abstract

ABSTRACT Chinese enterprises’ technology-sourcing overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&A) integration is an important force to accelerate the high-quality industrial development. However, the existing theories lack a thorough explanation of this mechanism. Based on four typical cases in Chinese manufacturing industry, this study applied a multiple-case study method to explore the relationships among the four basic categories of ‘resource relatedness’, ‘integration degree’, ‘innovation network position’ and ‘industrial technology innovation’ by in-depth interviews with enterprise executives and second data analysis. We find out that acquirers’ appropriate integration degree which matches different combinations of resource similarity and complementarity, will efficiently enhance centrality and structural holes of the acquirers in the global innovation networks, and thus promote home-country industrial technology innovation in the three functional areas of research and development (R&D), operations, and upstream and downstream activities. Based on resource-based view and by emphasising acquirers’ centrality and structural holes improvement in the global innovation networks as the crucial links, this study deepens the overall understanding of the entire process of enterprises using overseas M&A integration to promote the home-country industrial technology innovation and provides insights into the technological leapfrogging of latecomers from developing countries.