From a dyadic to a triadic perspective: Divestiture research implications for understanding pre- and post-acquisition processes

Acquisition and divestiture studies remain surprisingly disconnected, although both fields address corporate restructuring modes that are tightly linked. Acquisitions entail buying a business that another company divests or even, in many cases, a subsequent sale of formerly acquired activities. In this paper, we adopt a seller perspective, explore cross-fertilization areas, and identify important complementary and challenging insights that divesture research can bring to acquisition research. Focusing on sell-off, a major divesture type that is considered symmetrical to an acquisition, we discuss how divestiture research can shed novel light on pre- and post-acquisition stakeholders and processes. We propose two ways in which a divestiture perspective invites rethinking: 1) regarding actors, by stressing the need to consider triadic (divester–target–acquirer) rather than dyadic configurations (target–acquirer) and 2) regarding processes and time, by enlarging the temporal horizon of acquisition processes by divestiture processes, which precede but also sometimes exceed the acquisition. We contribute to acquisition research by providing a fresh look at stakeholder and process perspectives and identifying important future research avenues.     

浙江省城市绿色技术创新效率评价及影响因素分析

基于网络DEA模型和Malmquist指数模型，利用浙江省11个地级市的2011-2020年的数据，以降维后的污染指数为非期望产出对绿色技术创新效率进行测度和分析。发现:浙江各市总体上成果转化阶段的效率优于研发阶段，城市间发展差异较大；整体TFP指数均值为1.121，其提升主要源自技术进步；城镇化水平、产业结构优化、对外开放、政府干预和研发强度对绿色技术创新效率有促进作用，但经济发展水平与绿色技术创新效率的U型关系不显著。     

Correlation properties of continuous-time autoregressive processes delayed by the inverse of the stable subordinator

Abstract

We define the delayed Lévy-driven continuous-time autoregressive process via the inverse of the stable subordinator. We derive correlation structure for the observed non-stationary delayed Lévy-driven continuous-time autoregressive processes of order p, emphasizing low orders, and we show they exhibit long-range dependence property. Distributional properties are discussed as well.     

Control charts based on dependent count data with deflation or inflation of zeros

The process of serially dependent counts with deflation or inflation of zeros is commonly observed in many applications. This paper investigates the monitoring of such a process, the first-order zero-modified geometric integer-valued autoregressive process (ZMGINAR(1)). In particular, two control charts, the upper-sided and lower-sided CUSUM charts, are developed to detect the shifts in the mean process of the ZMGINAR(1). Both the average run length performance and the standard deviation of the run length performance of these two charts are investigated by using Markov chain approaches. Also, an extensive simulation is conducted to assess the effectiveness or performance of the charts, and the presented methods are applied to two sets of real data arising from a study on the drug use.     

Explicit analytical solutions for ARL of CUSUM chart for a long-memory SARFIMA model

This paper aims to derive explicit analytical solutions for Average Run Length (ARL) of CUSUM chart for the SARFIMA(P,D,Q)_S process with exponential white noise. Measurement of performance was done with the ARL in terms of percentage error and CPU time. The results obtained from the explicit formulas were compared focusing on the performance using the numerical integral equation (NIE) method. Both methods had similarly excellent agreement with the percentage error at less than 0.25%. Meanwhile, the explicit formulas consumed less CPU time than the NIE method. It is clear that the explicit formulas are a good alternative in real applications.     

Looking into the ‘black box’ – unlocking the effect of integration on acquisition performance

Extending research on the performance of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As), this paper seeks to explain how the post-acquisition integration phase affects acquisition performance. Despite extensive research efforts, there remains a scant understanding of how acquisition implementation, particularly in the post-acquisition integration phase, impacts the performance of M&As. Based on an extensive study of eight acquisitions, in this paper, a grounded model detailing the mechanisms by which the post-acquisition integration phase affects acquisition performance is developed. The model posits that integration-related factors do not bear directly upon acquisition performance. Instead, their effect is mediated by functional organizations in both firms. When focusing into these functional mediating dynamics, we observe that integration-related processual, behavioral and cultural factors affect the identified functional mediators in different ways. Going forward, we echo calls for integrated perspectives to the study of M&A and M&A performance in particular.     

Local Estimation of the Conditional Stable Tail Dependence Function

We consider the local estimation of the stable tail dependence function when a random covariate is observed together with the variables of main interest. Our estimator is a weighted version of the empirical estimator adapted to the covariate framework. We provide the main asymptotic properties of our estimator, when properly normalized, in particular the convergence of the empirical process towards a tight centred Gaussian process. The finite sample performance of our estimator is illustrated on a small simulation study and on a dataset of air pollution measurements.     

For an integrative theory of social behaviour: Theorising with and beyond rational choice theory

Most sociologists are not content with merely relating macrosocial phenomena to preceding macrosocial causes in their causal explanations of social phenomena. Instead they are seeking to provide (non‐reductive) microfoundations with which they can corroborate and make understandable the connection between macrosocial phenomena. In order to do so a theory (or theories) of human action is required. One such theory, rational choice theory (RCT), has long been viewed with strong suspicion in sociology. I show such suspicion to be partially justified. RCT cannot be a general theory of social behaviour. Nonetheless, there are important insights in various versions of RCT that should not be discarded. In order to improve upon RCT and move toward a more unified or integrative theory of action social‐psychological research has to be taken note of. I demonstrate how dual‐process theories and the research on heuristics can help sociologists move beyond RCT without contradicting some of its more basic insights.     

What might Normalisation Process Theory bring to policy implementation studies? Learning lessons and uncovering questions through a case study of the profound implementation failure of a new policing policy

Normalisation Process Theory (NPT), used nationally and internationally to explore implementation within health services research, is used for the first time within policing to understand profound policy implementation failure and to generate broader discussion of policy implementation theory. The policy in question (Police to Primary Care [P2PC]) was an intervention designed to notify GPs when women are assessed by police as at high risk of future domestic abuse. Designed to improve interagency communication, it took place amidst radical organisational change. Using qualitative interviews with domestic abuse specialist and frontline officers, this paper addresses how NPT helps to explain the (non)implementation of P2PC, how such an analysis differs from other policy implementation approaches, and what this means for our understandings of policy implementation more broadly. NPT proved useful in understanding mechanisms leading to (non)implementation of the intervention: fuzzy alignment with existing practice, faulty communication of purpose, and inattention to discretionary implementation spaces. It helped us understand why the intervention came to be invisible. Dwarfed by its organisational context, made institutionally hard to read by a lack of formal protocols, and given restricted view to police officers, it was compromised by a failure to instigate systems of organisational learning. More broadly, NPT helped reveal practices intersecting top‐down and bottom‐up implementation theory. The paper concludes by asking how NPT and theories of street‐level bureaucracy might be better used in tandem and, particularly, how this might help explorations of policy implementation where human actors are joined by technological actors in interpreting and making policy in vivo.