Behind Acquisitions of Alliance Partners: Exploratory Learning and Network Embeddedness
从行为学习和社会网络视角，考察企业如何通过探索性学习与联盟网络中的共同中介位置和相对中心性，驱动对联盟伙伴的收购。基于美国计算机行业的分析验证了理论框架。
Acquisition research has traditionally been dominated by economic and atomistic assumptions. This study extends acquisition research by integrating behavioral learning and social network perspectives to examine the acquisitions of alliance partners. Specifically, we examine, at the dyadic level, how firms' alliance learning approaches (exploration versus exploitation) and their joint and relative embeddedness in alliance networks (joint brokerage positions and relative centrality) can interact to drive subsequent acquisitions of alliance partners. Our analyses of the U.S. computer industry support our theoretical framework, highlighting the unique and previously underexplored behavioral and relational drivers of acquisitions.