We examine the relation between firms' prior acquisition experience and subsequent acquisition performance. Based on our sample firms' complete acquisition histories, we find that acquirers with prior experience in the target industry perform better in subsequent diversifying acquisitions, and that the effect is stronger in industries with higher uncertainty. The outperformance is attributable to experienced acquirers' ability to identify targets with higher synergies. Additional analysis shows that the experience effect is robust after controlling for management experience and other firm-specific factors, and that considering small acquisitions as part of a firm's learning process is essential to the experience effect.

中文翻译：

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边做边学：并购中的经验效应

我们研究了公司先前的收购经验与随后的收购绩效之间的关系。基于我们样本公司的完整收购历史，我们发现在目标行业具有先前经验的收购者在随后的多元化收购中表现更好，并且在不确定性较高的行业中效果更强。优异的表现归因于经验丰富的收购方能够识别具有更高协同效应的目标。额外的分析表明，在控制了管理经验和其他公司特定因素后，经验效应是稳健的，并且将小型收购作为公司学习过程的一部分对经验效应至关重要。