INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY INTO MERGER AND ACQUISITION DECISION-MAKING

Merger and acquisition (M&A) decisions tend to be dominated by financi al and business managers. However, given the growing importance of tec hnology and innovation to firm competitiveness and the on-going import ance of merger, acquisition and divestment activity, there are potenti al gains to be made by acquirers from better integrating technology is sues into their M&A decision making. Not least it may help to avoid co stly errors and reduce the failure rate of M&As. More positively, it m ay help acquirers to better realise value from the technological asset s they acquire. Based on a three year study of mergers and acquisition s involving some of the UK's leading companies, we consider some of th e technology issues that are likely to arise in the M&A process. We co nclude by identifying four ways in which managers might better integra te technology issues into M&A decision making. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scien ce Ltd. All rights reserved.