CHARACTERISTICS OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS IN THE TECHNOLOGY DRIVEN SECTOR
CHARACTERISTICS OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS IN THE TECHNOLOGY DRIVEN SECTOR

Summary/Abstract: Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) have been one of the favored methods for achieving strategic business targets and appeasing key stakeholders. A wide variety of strategic objectives can be met through M&A, including (but not limited to) moving quickly into new markets or product space, providing valuable resources, increasing market power and achieving economy of scale advantage by taking advantage of proper synergy between the acquirer and the target company. In the fast changing environment of the technology driven sector acquisition is often the fastest (if not the only) way to keep up-to-date with the new technological developments. While the fundamental M&A characteristics of technology firms are similar to those of other sectors, there are additional unique features of M&A in the technology sector; Obtaining engineering capabilities, tapping the innovative potential of young, entrepreneurial firms, keeping key employees in the new company and the need to quickly integrate the new acquired technology into the buyers' core business are just few examples for these unique features. This article reviews the distinct characteristics and challenges of M&A in the technology driven sector and suggests several strategies to effectively cope with these challenges.

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