IT-based Value Creation in Serial Acquisitions

The extant research on post-acquisition IT integration analyzes how acquirers realize IT-based value in individual acquisitions. However, serial acquirers make 60% of acquisitions. These acquisitions are not isolated events, but are components in growth-by-acquisition programs. To explain how serial acquirers realize IT-based value, we integrate and model the findings on individual acquisitions from the extant literature, and extend that model to explain the effects of sequential acquisitions in a growth-by-acquisition strategy. This extended model, drawing on the Resource-Based Theory of strategy, comprises seven propositions that affect post-acquisition IT integration. The model proposes that successful acquisitions are contingent on the acquirer’s IT capabilities, business and IT alignment, and infrastructure scalability. We begin the process of validating this model by investigating a longitudinal case study of a growth-by-acquisition program.