Are cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions more successful between culturally similar countries in the EU?

Table of Contents

• ABSTRACT
• PREFACE
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
  • BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM STATEMENT
  • AIM OF THIS RESEARCH
  • CONTRIBUTION TO PREVIOUS STUDIES
  • STRUCTURE
• THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
  • CROSS-BORDER MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
    • Introduction to Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Cross-border Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Motives for cross-border M&A
  • BARRIERS FOR European TraNSACTIONS
    • Legal and regulatory barriers
    • Cultural and political barriers
    • Corporate governance barrier
    • Other barriers
  • MEASURES OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
    • Cultural distance
    • Legal origin measures
    • Trust measures
    • Hofstede measures
    • Corporate Governance
  • CROSS-BORDER M&A IN EUROPE
  • PRIOR EVIDENCE ON CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN CROSS-BORDER M&A
• RESEARCH DESIGN
  • HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT
  • THE SAMPLE
  • METHODOLOGY
    • Abnormal returns
    • Cumulative abnormal returns
    • Test Statistic
  • EXPLANATORY VARIABLES
    • Dependent Variable
    • Independent variables
    • Control Variables
  • SUMMARY STATISTICS
  • EVENT STUDY
    • Short-term analysis
    • CARS in event studies
  • OLS REGRESSION ANALYSIS
    • The effect of cultural distance on announcement returns
    • The effect of legal origin on announcement returns
    • The effect of trust on announcement returns
    • The effect of Hofstede's dimensions on announcement returns
    • The effect of corporate governance on announcement returns
    • Robustness tests
• EMPIRICAL RESULTS
  • OLS REGRESSIONS OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES OF ACQUIRERS
    • Cultural distance
    • Legal origin
    • Trust
    • Hofstede's dimensions
    • Corporate governance
  • ROBUSTNESS TESTS
    • Hofstede's four versus 6 cultural dimensions
    • Additional event windows
• CONCLUSION AND LIMITATIONS
  • CONCLUSION
  • LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• APPENDIX

Objectives and Key Themes

This dissertation aims to investigate the relationship between cultural differences and the success of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the European Union (EU). Specifically, it examines the impact of cultural distance, legal origin, trust, Hofstede's cultural dimensions, and corporate governance on the shareholder wealth effects of European acquirers.

• The role of culture in cross-border M&A success
• The impact of cultural distance on acquirer returns
• The influence of legal origin, trust, and corporate governance on M&A outcomes
• An analysis of Hofstede's cultural dimensions in relation to cross-border M&A
• The application of an event study methodology to analyze shareholder wealth effects

Chapter Summaries

The dissertation begins by providing a comprehensive introduction to the topic of cross-border M&As, outlining their significance in the European context and highlighting the increasing need for research on the role of culture in these transactions. Chapter 2 delves into the theoretical framework, examining the motives for cross-border M&A and the various barriers that can hinder their success. It also explores different measures of cultural differences, including cultural distance, legal origin, trust, Hofstede's dimensions, and corporate governance. Chapter 3 details the research design, including the development of hypotheses, the selection of a sample, and the methodology employed. The chapter also discusses the explanatory variables used in the analysis, focusing on dependent, independent, and control variables. Chapter 4 presents the empirical results of the study, analyzing the impact of various cultural differences on acquirer announcement returns. The chapter further examines the robustness of these findings through additional analyses.

Keywords

The dissertation focuses on the key topics of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, cultural differences, shareholder wealth effects, European Union, cultural distance, legal origin, trust, Hofstede's cultural dimensions, corporate governance, and event study methodology. The research explores the relationship between these concepts and their implications for the success of cross-border M&As in the European market.