Integrating strategy & finance through strategic alliancesOrganizational learning & valuation perspectives

Resumo

This dissertation presents three papers that aim to bridge the fields of finance and strategy through strategic alliances as the focal subject. In respect for their proper research traditions, the second and third papers each contribute specifically to one of the fields although they are of interest to both. In Paper One, I review the literature of both fields, taking organizational learning and financial valuation perspectives. I then identify two sets of research gaps which form the focus of the next two papers. Paper Two aims to fill a gap in the strategy literature that concerns cross-organizational form learning effects. Specifically, I examine how organizational experience in one governance form (alliances) affects performance in another form (acquisitions). I identify two alliance learning mechanisms that draw on firms’ prior alliance experiences and show, based on US manufacturing sector data, that they have significant positive interaction effects on focal firms’ acquisition performance. Paper Three aims to fill a gap in the finance literature about how alliances affect debt investors. I analogously apply the theories of coinsurance that describe how bond investors are affected by the asset combinations in mergers to describe how they are affected by the asset combinations in alliances. I test my hypotheses on a data set of corporate bonds of firms in the US industrial sector and find that not only do allying firms’ bond investors benefit significantly from alliance announcements, but that those with below investment grade credit ratings benefit more than those rated investment grade.