1. Interdisciplinary approach providing a holistic overview of the strategic, financial, and sociocultural dimensions of M&A management
2. State of the art reviews by leading international M&A scholars
3. Novel lenses into M&A management, e.g. power and politics, M&A typologies, review of M&A waves, silent forces shaping M&A performance
4. Provides synthesis, interdisciplinary models of M&A management

With its inception at the end of the nineteenth century as a means of consolidation and reorganization, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have since become quasi-institutionalized as one of the primary strategic options for organizations, as they seek to secure their position in an ever more competitive and globalizing market place. Despite the optimism surrounding M&A as strategic moves, research on post-merger company performance suggests that most firms engaging in M&A activity do not achieve the sought-after performance targets, either immediately or in the years following the deal. What is it that drives M&A activity when research results do not support the performance expectations of these undertakings? Alternatively, have M&A scholars got it all wrong in the way that M&A performance is measured? Is the topic too complex, enduring, and multifaceted to study?

The Handbook argues that the field of M&A is in need of a re-rooting: past research needs to be critically reviewed, and fundamental assumptions revisited. A key issue preventing efforts in the practice and study of M&A from achieving dynamic syntheses has been the disciplinary gulf separating strategy, finance, and human relations schools. The Handbook aims to bridge the hitherto separate disciplines engaged in the study and practice of M&A to provide more meaningful results.

Toward this end, the Handbook brings together a set of prominent and emerging scholars and practitioners engaged in the study of M&A to provide thought-provoking, state of the art overviews of M&A through four specific 'lenses' - strategic, financial, socio-cultural, and sectorial approaches. By summarizing key findings in current research and exploring ways in which the differing approaches could and should be 'synthesized', it aims to highlight the key issues facing M&A practitioners and academics at the dawn of the third millennium.

Readership: Academics, researchers, and graduate students in Strategy, Finance, and HR; M&A business practitioners

Contents:

1: David Faulkner, Satu Teerikangas, Richard J. Joseph: Introduction
Section I: A Strategic Lens for M&A
2: Kalin Kolev, John Haleblian, and Gerry McNamara: A Review of the Merger and Acquisition Wave Literature
3: Duncan Angwin: M&A Typologies: A Review
4: Michel Hitt, David King, Hema Krishnan, Marianna Makri, Mario Schijven, Katsuhiko Shimizu, and Hong Zhu: Creating Value through M&A: Challenges and Opportunities
5: Ioannis Thanos and Vassilis Papadakis: Unbundling Acquisition Performance: How Do they Perform and How Can This Be Measured?
6: Thomas Keil, Tomi Laamanen, and Aino Mäkisalo: Acquisitions, Acquisition Programs and Acquisition Capabilities
Section II A Financial Lens for M&A
7: Brendan McSweeney and Elina Happonen: Pre-deal Management
8: Sudi Sudarsanam: Value Creation and Value Appropriation in M&A Deals
9: Richard J. Joseph and Bill Ryan: Structuring the Transaction
10: Scott Moeller and Maria Carapeto: Acquiring Distressed and Bankrupt Concerns
11: Brendan McSweeney: Takeover Strategies, Competitive Bidding and Defensive Tactics
12: Viktoria Dalko: Leveraged Buyouts
13: Bill Ryan: Shareholder Value: a Driver of M&A Activity
Section III: A Socio-Cultural Lens for M&A
14: Satu Teerikangas and Richard J. Joseph: Post-M&A Integration: An Overview
15: Susan Cartwright: Individual Response to Mergers and Acquisitions
16: Satu Teerikangas and Philippe Véry: Culture in M&A: A Critical Synthesis and Steps Forward
17: David Faulkner, Robert Pitkethly, and John Child: Country Cultural Differences in Acquisition Management
18: Sajjad Jasimuddin: Knowledge Management in Mergers and Acquisitions
19: Steffen Giessner, Johannes Ullrich, and Rolf van Dick: A Social Identity Analysis of Mergers and Acquisitions
20: Janne Tienari and Eero Vaara: Power and Politics in M&A
21: Satu Teerikangas: Silent Forces Shaping the Performance of Cross-border Acquisitions
Section IV: A Sectorial Lens for M&A
22: Harbir Singh and Prashant Kale: Characteristics of Emerging Market Mergers and Acquisitions
23: Gary A. Dymski: Financial Mergers and Acquisitions: From Regulation to Strategic Repositioning to Geo-economics
24: Nicholas Fairclough and Samantha Fairclough: Mergers between Professional Service Firms: How the Big 8 Became the Big 5
25: Annette Ranft, Adelaide Wilcox King, and Jennifer C. Sexton: Examining Resource and Expectational Ambiguity in Technology M&A Integration
26: Lars Schweizer: Characteristics of Biotechnology Mergers and Acquisitions
Section V: Synthesis
27: Satu Teerikangas, Richard J. Joseph, David Faulkner: A Synthesis
Appendix 1: M&A Motives, Definitions, and Defining Characteristics: Satu Teerikangas, David Faulkner, Richard J. Joseph