ABSTRACT

Although having grown significantly to constitute a strong influence in several fields of business research, research on corporate acquisitions still needs fresh voices. Research on acquisitions is dominated by functionalist studies searching for ways to improve financial outcomes. In contrast, this paper draws on a narrative approach to provide a new perspective to corporate acquisitions. We focus on decision-makers and how a metaphor that highlights human foibles connected to sins can offer a new understanding of corporate acquisitions. Engaging with acquisition literature and underpinning our argument with examples from well-known acquisitions, provides a new way of understanding commonly identified but socially unaccepted outcomes from acquisitions generally described as unintended and unwanted.

摘要

尽管在业务研究的多个领域中已发展壮大，并具有强大的影响力，但有关公司收购的研究仍需要新鲜的声音。并购研究主要由功能主义研究主导，他们寻求改善财务成果的方法。相反，本文采用叙事方法为公司收购提供了新的视角。我们将重点放在决策者上，突出显示与犯罪相关的人类脆弱性的隐喻如何为公司收购提供新的理解。从事收购文献研究，并以著名收购案例为基础来支持我们的论点，提供了一种新的方式来理解通常被识别为意料之外和不需要的，通常被确定但在社会上不被接受的结果。