Study On The Impact Of The Background Characteristics Of The Decision Makers Of Public-Listed Companies In China On The Performance Of Cross-Border Mergers And Acquisitions

This study uses empirical research method to explore the impact mechanism of decision makers' background characteristics on the performance of cross border mergers and acquisitions. 44 public listed companies which had significant mergers and acquisitions in the years between 2009 and 2012 were selected for this study. Based on relevant theories of economic psychology, behavioral economics, managerial science and theories of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, twelve financial indicators were selected to measure the profitability,operational capability, growth capability and debt repaying capability of the sample firms for the year before, the year, one year after and two years after, the cross-border mergers and acquisitions. By using the factor analysis for the indicators, four factors were extracted to represent the four capabilities. A comprehensive evaluation system was set up to generate comprehensive performance scores to reflect the level of performance. The scores are to be used as the dependent variable. Background characteristics of decision makers which may cause influence of transnational mergers and acquisitions performance(average age, the proportion of women, proportion of senior professional titles, proportion of the number of average education and practice of science and engineering personnel, proportion of foreign staff, students experience staff ratio, the proportion of political experience) were selected as independent variables. Major factors(The international experience of the M & A, the size of the assets of the M & A, the difference of the national culture, the level of economic development of the host country and the scale of M & A) were selected as control variables.SPSS20.0 was used to perform multivariate linear regression analysis. Results showed that the decision makers background does have an impact on the performance of transnational merger,especially for the average education level, proportion of senior professional titles, proportion of foreign personnel, and the proportion of people who had political history. Finally,recommendations are provided for the formation of decision-making team of China's public listed companies, the rational implementation of cross-border M&A and the cultural integration after cross-border mergers and acquisitions.