Dating before marriage? Analyzing the influence of pre-acquisition experience and target familiarity on acquisition success in the “M&A as R&D” type of acquisition

SummaryThis study analyzes the “M&A as R&D” type of acquisition addressing the question whether acquisition experience and target familiarity influence the post-acquisition integration success in terms of innovation. We measure the influence of general acquisition experience of the acquirer, pre-acquisition alliance experience with the target, and sector familiarity of the target on the post-acquisition patent rate of the acquirer. The results of our event history analysis of the complete U.S. biotech population for 1973–2000 indicate that general acquisition experience and target familiarity increase the post-acquisition patenting speed.