Run or Hide:Changes in Acquisition Behaviour During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Purpose: M&A are an important strategic tool for continuous adaptation, sustainable corporate development, and external growth. At the same time, M&A involve high levels of risk with mixed performance results even under normal circumstances. Even though the M&A market was continuously growing for the last decade, it was abruptly ended by the Covid-19 pandemic as executives were more concerned about liquidity than with long term growth strategies. This raises the question how M&A behaviour is affected by the economic fall-out of the Covid-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: Mixed method research design Findings: We particularly investigate how target selection as well as synergy management are affected by the pandemic. Our analysis reveals four archetypical responses to the Covid-19 crisis. We describe those responses in detail and analyze antecedents that seem to influence firms’ acquisition behaviour during the pandemic. Originality: The paper draws on survey and interview data of M&A practitioner