Do Mergers and Acquisitions Disrupt Marketing Capabilities

Abstract

Motivated by the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, this study explores whether mergers and acquisitions (M&As) can facilitate or impede a firm’s marketing capabilities. Furthermore, this study also examines whether the influence of M&As on a firm’s marketing capabilities is conditional to the type of deals, that is, domestic versus cross-border acquisitions. Using the difference-in-differences research design with a large sample of 15,509 firm-year observations for 898 US public acquirers, this study tests the postacquisition changes in a firm’s marketing capabilities as reflected in the sensitivity of sales revenue to marketing-related expenditure. The results of the empirical tests show a postacquisition increase in sales sensitivity, suggesting that firms can enhance their marketing capabilities through M&As. However, it is also found that the enhancement in marketing capabilities is limited to domestic M&As and disappears for cross-border acquisitions. This result suggests that more salient differences in a firm’s marketing environment attributable to cross-border acquisitions may disrupt a firm’s marketing capabilities and dampen the positive effect of M&As. Fields of Specialization: Strategic management, marketing. Keywords Marketing capabilities, mergers and acquisitions, sales sensitivity