HALEBLIAN, Jerayr <br/><br/>
The influence of organization acquisition experience on acquisition performance :  a behavioral learnig perspective 

 - Ithaca :  Johnson Graduate School of Management,  March 1999 
<br/><br/> Drawing on work form behavioral learning theory in psychology this study examines the influence of prior organizational acqusition experience on the peformance of acquistions. This theory, which examines both the conditions preceding organization events and organizational responces, predicts that experience effects may range from positive to negative. Consistent with this theory, data from 449 acquistion show an overall U-shaped relationship between organization acquisition experience  and acquisition performance. In addition, the more similar a firm`s acquisition targets are to its prior targets, the better they perform. These findings suggest that relatively inexperienced acquirers, after making their first acquisition , inappropriately generali acquisition experience to subsequent dissimilar acquisitions, while more experienced acquirers approapriately discrimante between their acquitions. behavioral learning theory, then, may enhance understanding of organization epxerience effects