How Industry Lifecycle Sets Boundary Conditions for M&A Integration

Value creation in acquisitions is tightly connected with actions taken during integration. However, research on integration mainly concentrates on integration typologies or on the autonomy vs. absorption debate, each stream with empirical evidence for respective benefits. We argue and give empirical evidence that there is no “one size fits all” approach for integration but rather an interdependency of the suitability of integration related decisions with the industry lifecycle. We demonstrate that beneficial or detrimental effects of degree of integration, formal, and informal coordination mechanisms are context-specific and differ significantly in growing, mature, and declining industries. We show that the degree of integration only has a significant beneficial effect in mature industries, while no effect in cases of declining and fast growing industries is observable. Here we indicate that in acquisitions with buyers in declining industries, formal coordination mechanisms are most beneficial, while in growing industries only informal coordination mechanisms are valuable.