ABSTRACT
The last decade has been characterized by an increasing number of mergers and acquisitions (M&As). This phenomenon, different from the past, has mainly involved knowledge-intensive and high-tech industries, where innovation is the most relevant competitive weapon firms rely on, as opposed to mature industries where competition is based on economies of scale and cost efficiency. Contributions based on the resource-based view of the firms (Barney, 1991; Wernerfelt, 1995) and on the knowledge-based view of the firms (Levitt and March, 1988; Nonaka, 1991; Conner and Prahalad, 1996; Grant, 1996; Cloodt et al., 2006) provide some useful insights to understand this phenomenon.
