中国企业海外并购的时间效应：基于并购速度和并购节奏的并购模式与并购绩效的关系研究

Although the booming rise of cross-border acquisitions made by Chinese firms in recent years, their acquisition performances are barely satisfactory. Based on the analysis of Chinese cross-border acquisition history, it is interesting to note that cross-border acquisition is more successful when firms taking stable growth acquisition strategies with regular rhythm. Does this imply that there may be a “temporal effect” in their acquisition strategies? In fact, we find that many firms making acquisition portfolio strategies to go abroad, where there are various combinations of acquisition speed and acquisition rhythm. Acquisition speed and acquisition rhythm reflect one of the important dimension of learning process for firms—The temporal dimension. This temporal dimension of learning process will influence learning outcomes and thus firms’ performance, the so called “Temporal Effect”. However, previous studies largely treat time as given and ignore how temporal dimension of learning influence firm performance, resulting in mixed findings. Thus, drawing upon organizational learning theory, our study use acquisition portfolio perspective to explore how time influence cross-border acquisition performance. We firstly identify various acquisition patterns through different combinations of acquisition speed and acquisition rhythm. Then, we try to test the various performance implications based on different acquisition patterns. Finally, we also try to explain the underlying mechanisms of the formations and transformations of different acquisition patterns. This project will predominantly focus on the role of time in cross-border acquisition activities, addressing the gap in organizational learning theory and prior cross-border acquisition studies. In addition, we also practically contribute to offer Chinese firms a more holistic and temporal perspective in understanding of cross-border acquisitions, which will help them efficiently manage their time dimension of acquisitions activities and so as to increase their performance.

在中国企业海外并购蓬勃兴起的同时，并购绩效却差强人意。通过分析中国海外并购的历史数据发现一个有趣的现象：相比于并购数量大起大落的时期，中国企业在并购数量平稳增长的阶段成功率更高，这是否意味着在海外并购中可能存在“时间效应”呢？通过观察现实，我们发现大量企业实施了多次相互关联的海外并购组合，其实施并购组合的速度和节奏则是反映学习过程的重要时间特征，影响学习效果进而决定并购绩效，这就是“时间效应”。以往的并购研究把时间视为潜含因素，忽视了其重要影响。因此，本研究基于组织学习理论，从并购组合的视角探讨时间对海外并购绩效的影响。我们首先界定基于并购速度和节奏两个时间维度而形成的并购模式，接着检验不同模式的并购绩效差异，最后解释并购模式的形成与变化机制。本研究聚焦于时间在海外并购中的重要作用，弥补了并购领域对“时间效应”缺乏关注的理论缺口，为中国企业更好地从时间上管理并购活动，提升并购绩效提供借鉴。

在中国企业海外并购蓬勃兴起的同时，并购绩效却差强人意。如何从时间上有效管理中国企业海外并购战略组合，并更好的利用企业经验、国家制度等因素有效提升海外并购绩效是需要解决的重要问题。首先，形成了中国企业海外并购时间效应的配套数据集，从连续并购战略组合的视角，以并购速度和并购节奏两个时间维度为基础，刻画中国企业海外并购的时间模式，发现不同的时间模式下，企业的学习效果存在差异。其次，深入探讨了经验类型（一般经验/特定经验、成功经验/失败经验、当地经验/国际经验、重复性经验/多样性经验）对中国企业海外并购前阶段绩效以及海外子公司经营绩效影响的差异，解释了经验转化为学习能力，并影响中国企业海外投资活动绩效的边界条件。最后，深入分析了制度（国家制度环境、两国双边关系、企业国有身份等）在中国企业海外并购活动中的重要影响，发现国有身份不仅降低了企业海外并购的成功率，还增加了其完成并购的时间长度，同时双边投资协定并不能保证国有企业海外并购的成功，高质量的东道国制度是一把双刃剑：一方面良好的东道国制度有利于国有企业成功完成海外并购，另一方面高质量的制度也会延长国企海外并购时间。整体而言，项目基于组织学习理论和制度理论，探讨了中国企业海外并购的时间效应，并从经验（重要的时间维度）和制度两个视角分析了其对海外投资活动绩效的影响，对中国企业更好地管理并购活动，提升海外并购质量提供借鉴。