Maturing born globals and their acquisitive behaviour

Born globals are becoming more common in our interconnected world. While a body of knowledge exists regarding the establishment and early growth of born globals, we know less about how these companies develop. Arguing that acquiring new knowledge, technologies, and products will enable companies to survive beyond their initial success, the current study specifically aims to explore the value of technology-motivated acquisitions, and their effect on performance. To this end, the study employs a hybrid methodology; statistically studying 108 acquisitions conducted by 45 maturing, technology-based born globals in Israel over a period of 10 years, and further substantiate the findings with an in-depth case analysis of four sample companies. The results indicate that technology-motivated acquisitions are valuable in terms of both financial performance and independent survival, but that there likely exists an optimal threshold, indicating that such a strategy, though beneficial, should be carefully managed.