On February 15, 2018, research seminar led by Lyubov A. Ermolaeva (graduate of GSOM SPbU Doctoral Program) was held at GSOM SPbU. L.A. Ermolaeva has presented the results of her thesis on the topic: "Determinants of International Mergers and Acquisitions Strategies' Implementation: the Process Model of Analysis of Russian Multinational Companies".

 

 

The dissertation by L.A. Ermolaeva is devoted to the study of the formation and strategy implementation of foreign Russian companies' M&A deals. The dissertation focuses on the pre-acquisition stage, which has been relatively little studied in the literature. At the same time, when talking about M&A strategy, most of researchers often pay attention only to those transactions that have been committed, but do not take into account those that have failed. The study shows that the planned transactions often differ from what the companies ultimately realize. Some factors of the external environment (as political instability or friendly political ties with Russia that involve Russian MNEs to market choice) are negatively associated with the stage of transaction implementation. The study points factors that are important to consider already in the process of transaction planning: since unsuccessful attempts to implement M&A strategy lead to high transaction costs that any company seeks to avoid.

 

As a result of the presentation, the author answered questions from the audience. Participants of the seminar took part in a lively discussion on the topic of the study, which was accompanied by constructive critical comments made by experts:

• Marina O. Latuha (Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor, Organizational Behavior and HR Management Department, SPbU);
• Anna S. Veselova (Assistant Professor, Department of Operations Management, SPbU);
• Juan Freixanet Solirvicens (PhD., Senior Lecturer, Marketing Department, SPbU);
• Andrey Yu. Panibratov (Professor, Department of Strategic and International Management, SPbU, scientific advisor of L.A. Ermolaeva).

 

For this moment 7 papers were published on research topic, including: 2 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals included in VAK list; 1 paper indexed in Scopus and 1 paper accepted for publication in journal indexed in Scopus (in English); 2 chapters in monographs indexed in Scopus (in English); also 12 presentations were made at international conferences.