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Mergers and acquisitions are all the reasa popular research topic, and after decades of intensive
research it is generally assumed that most of the reasons for bank mergers and acquisitions (M & A)
are known. However, we challenge the assumption that ons for bank mergers
and acquisitions are fully understood. For a better understanding of the subject, it is necessary
to study the motives of the decision makers since we feel that the motives have rarely
been explored.
The bulk of the literature on M & A deals with macro and microeconomic reasons, such
as deregulation and economies of
scale. In recent years, however, the research focus has
shifted to the expectations, characteristics, and behavior patterns of owners, managers, and
other people involved in the decision-making process. Apart from early studies, for instance by
Levinson (1970) and Jervis (1971), this field started to develop in the 1990s, in line with the
growing interest in new institutional economics and interdisciplinary approaches like behavioral
finance. It helped the new research stream that the economics of mergers did not look very
favorable, and thus, could not fully explain the merger wave that took place in many industries
around the world in the 1980s and
1990s. |
