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Knowledge-acquisitions and post-acquisition innovation performance: a comparative hazards model

  • Empirical Research
  • Published:
European Journal of Information Systems

Abstract

Do acquisitions lead to instrumental innovations related to the acquired knowledge? Past arguments on vertical integration espouse how a quest for knowledge drives acquisitions culminating in innovation performance. Using Google and Yahoo as cases-in-point, we examine how facets of acquired innovation knowledge impact post-innovation performance. In particular, the apparently opposing fortunes of Google and Yahoo allow us to investigate the pace of their innovation performance as a hazards model. Results from our investigation highlight Google’s ambidexterity over Yahoo with a swifter, systematic pace of innovation performance – from hastening time to patenting new ideas to the time to releasing new applications from acquisitions.

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Acknowledgements

We would particularly like to thank our AE and Anonymous Reviewers 1 and 2 for their excellent comments and direction that has positively shaped the paper over multiple revisions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Council on Supply Chain and IT Strategy (SCITS), College of Business, Kent State University, Kent, U.S.A.

    Pratim Datta

  2. Department of Computer Information Systems, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, U.S.A.

    Yaman Roumani

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  1. Pratim Datta
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  2. Yaman Roumani
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Appendix

Appendix

Table A1

Table A1 Yahoo and Google acquisitions
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Datta, P., Roumani, Y. Knowledge-acquisitions and post-acquisition innovation performance: a comparative hazards model. Eur J Inf Syst 24, 202–226 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2014.32

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