Performance in cross-border mergers and acquisitions: an empirical analysis of the brazilian case

The purpose of this article is to investigate whether the cross-border acquisitions made by Brazilian companies over the past 15 years have improved their financial performance. Drawing on institutional, socio-cultural, and organizational learning theories, this study develops and empirically tests several hypotheses on the determinants of M&A performance. The results demonstrate that the cross-border acquisition moves by Brazilian companies actually improve their financial performance. Financial performance tends to be positive when the cultural distance between the countries of the acquiring and acquired companies is low to medium and when the institutional context of the acquired company is a developed one. We also found an inverted-U shape relationship between acquiring companies' previous international M&A experience and the performance of a new cross-border operation. These findings suggest that research on international M&As should include acquirers' M&A experience as well as the institutional characteristics of their target countries.

本文旨在探究过去15年间巴西企业开展的跨境并购是否提升了其财务绩效。本研究依托制度理论、社会文化理论与组织学习理论，构建并实证检验了若干关于并购（Mergers and Acquisitions，简称M&A）绩效影响因素的假说。研究结果表明，巴西企业的跨境并购行为确实能够提升其财务绩效。当并购双方所在国的文化距离处于中低水平，且被并购企业所在制度环境为发达型时，企业财务绩效往往表现为正向提升。本研究同时发现，并购企业过往的跨国并购经验与新跨境并购业务的绩效之间呈倒U型关系。上述研究结果表明，跨国并购相关研究应同时纳入并购企业的并购经验以及目标国的制度特征。