The influence of family ownership on acquisition activity: The moderating role of acquisition experience

ABSTRACT

We investigated how heterogeneity in family ownership influences on the frequency of acquisitions in a sample of 1,096 publicly traded manufacturing companies from the Asia Pacific region in the period 2009–2016. We found that the level of family ownership decreases the activity consisting in engaging in acquisitions. Moreover, the negative influence of family ownership on acquisition frequency becomes less important when the firm has been involved in prior acquisitions. We drew on the mixed gamble approach to better understand acquisition decisions in family firms.

KEYWORDS:

• Acquisitions
• family ownership
• family management
• acquisition experience
• mixed gamble approach