Reducing Causal Ambiguity In Acquisition Integration: Intermediate Goals As Mediators OfIntegration Decisions and Acquisition Performance
研究发现，中期目标（内部重组和市场扩张）完全中介了四项整合决策与并购绩效之间的关系，为管理者提供了减少整合过程中因果模糊性的机制。
Integration is a difficult process, but one that is vital to acquisition performance. One reason acquirers encounter difficulties is that the integration process exhibits high levels of intrafirm linkage ambiguity–a lack of clarity in the causal link between integration decisions and their performance outcomes. We introduce the construct of intermediate goals as a mechanism that reduces intrafirm linkage ambiguity. Our structural model results, based on a sample of 129 horizontal acquisitions, indicate that the achievement of two intermediate goals (internal reorganization and market expansion) fully mediates the relationships between four integration decisions and acquisition performance.