Learning to internationalise: The pace and success of foreign acquisitions

Abstract

We argue that firms engaged in international acquisitions can benefit from foreign acquisition, domestic acquisition, and international joint venture experiences, but that their learning process is prone to biases. Only once companies learn what part of their knowledge about national cultures and entry modes can successfully be applied to new settings will they become truly successful abroad, in terms of both the rate and the frequency of their foreign acquisitions. The hypotheses were tested using negative binomial regression and hazard rate models on data on 1038 foreign acquisitions of 25 firms over a period of more than three decades. © 2007 Academy of International Business. All rights reserved.