This study demonstrates that shared mental models – common psychological representations of tasks and teams – between acquirer and target significantly influence post-acquisition innovation outcomes. Task mental models positively affect exploitation activities by facilitating process refinement and synergy extraction, while team mental models benefit both exploration and exploitation through enhanced trust and collaboration. However, the benefits diminish substantially as relative target size increases: larger targets trigger in-group/out-group biases and institutional constraints that neutralize the positive effects of shared understanding, particularly for exploration activities.
Triggering Innovation Through Mergers and Acquisitions: The Role of Shared Mental Models
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Explore how the shared understanding of “who knows what” impact acquisition success.
The founders, Mai Anh Dao and Florian Bauer, view target screening as the central strategic task of corporate development, one in which control, transparency, and traceability are crucial.
Financial figures are not, as usual, the sole search criteria but merely serve as selection criteria.