Strategic Investment Decision-Making in Mergers & Acquisitions: Case Amer Sports

The purpose of this study was to problematize the role of intuitive judgement in strategic investment decision-making (SIDM) process, within the context of mergers & acquisitions (M&A). Organizational science provided the theoretical lens. The study examined a global consumer goods company that acquired a new subsidiary for its brand portfolio, in 2018. The objective was to expand its business into a new market segment, and to reach its financial targets. The study is informed by academic capital budgeting literature, as well as academic M&A literature. Recently, the concept of intuitive judgement has gained a lot of attention in management accounting research. The research was conducted by a case study method. The empirical material consisted of company's internal decision-making materials, the official stock market releases, and capital markets presentations. In addition, 10 executive decision-makers, at various organizational levels, were interviewed. These managers had participated in the SIDM process, and had previous M&A experience. Triangulation of these empirical evidence produced the findings on the decision-making practice. There are two main findings: First, the case study provides evidence that expanding the concept of decision-making may help us to understand the intuitive judgement in Alkaraan & Northcott's (2007) SIDM process. In more detail, the managers' experience on the four roles of decision-making; legitimation, mobilization, responsibility allocation and choice, may explain the intuitive judgement in SIDM. Second, the financialized output of strategic analysis may be the most powerful language to articulate the meaning in business organizations. Hence, the financial analysis- and the risk analysis tools were used to support the internal negotiations and the information sharing. Finally, it is also noted that Alkaraan & Northcott's (2007) SIDM process model is a useful tool to facilitate the discussion on strategic investments. These findings are subject to few theoretical and empirical limitations. This study considered only the early identification-, evaluation-, and selection phases of one strategic investment, in consumer goods industry. Thus, the findings may not be generalizable beyond this context. In addition, the organizational theoretical lens may overlook the external market contingencies, which are nevertheless, extensively covered in previous SIDM studies. This study contributes to the SIDM literature stream in management accounting research. In addition, it may also contribute to the school of synergy hypothesis as an explanation for M&A motives