Discovering unobserved heterogeneity in structural equation models to avert validity threats. Management Information Systems Quarterly 37 (3), 665-694.

Value creation in acquisitions is tightly connected with actions taken during integration. However, research on integration mainly concentrates on integration typologies or on the autonomy vs. absorption debate, each stream with empirical evidence for respective benefits. We argue and give empirical evidence that there is no "one size fits all" approach for integration but rather an interdependency of the suitability of integration related decisions with the industry lifecycle. We demonstrate that beneficial or detrimental effects of degree of integration, formal, and informal coordination mechanisms are contextspecific and differ significantly in growing, mature, and declining industries. We show that the degree of integration only has a significant

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In this article, we analyze how shared team and task mental models, developed prior to an acquisition, affect exploration and exploitation activities in the postacquisition phase, and how these effects are dependent on relative size. With a sample of 101 transactions of acquirers from the German-speaking part of Europe, we provide empirical evidence that both shared team and task mental models positively influence exploitation activities following an acquisition, whereby only shared team mental models (TMMs) are beneficial for exploration. We provide empirical evidence that shared mental models in terms of task and team are an important informal source for enhancing exploration and exploitation innovation activities. However, this source of informal coordination is contextual. Although the relationships on exploitation are stable, the beneficial effect of TMMs on exploration is sensitive and devitalized by an increasing relative size. Implications for further research and management practice are given.

Post‐acquisition exploration aims at triggering innovation outcomes through newly acquired resources and capabilities. To this end, formal and informal mechanisms contribute to coordinating such exploration goals. As the usefulness of such coordination mechanisms in merger and acquisition (M&A) depends upon transaction experience, we investigate how tacit and explicit acquisition experience influences the outcomes of formal and informal coordination mechanisms on post‐merger exploration. Based on a sample of 115 transactions of German, Austrian, and Swiss acquirers, our results demonstrate that exploration outcomes are fostered through informal coordination mechanisms. Yet the effect is dampened when previous M&A experiences are held tacit. Formal coordination mechanisms show positive influences on post‐acquisition exploration only when acquisition experience is made explicit. In combination with tacit M&A experience, formal coordination has a negative influence. Thus, we contribute to the extant literature by showing which coordination mechanisms can be utilized to foster post‐acquisition exploration and how explicit and tacit M&A experience can be deployed effectively.