Strategic Management Review > Vol 3 > Issue 1

Acquisitions, Stakeholder Economies of Scope, and Stakeholder Orientation

Douglas A. Bosse, Robins School of Business, University of Richmond, USA, dbosse@richmond.edu , Jeffrey S. Harrison, Robins School of Business, University of Richmond, USA, harrison@richmond.edu , Robert E. Hoskisson, Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University, USA, robert.hoskisson@rice.edu
 
Suggested Citation
Douglas A. Bosse, Jeffrey S. Harrison and Robert E. Hoskisson (2022), "Acquisitions, Stakeholder Economies of Scope, and Stakeholder Orientation", Strategic Management Review: Vol. 3: No. 1, pp 35-65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/111.00000036

Publication Date: 07 Feb 2022
© 2022 now Publishers, Inc.
 
Subjects
Corporate strategy,  Stakeholder strategy,  Organization and strategy,  Strategic decision-making
 
Keywords
Stakeholdersacquisition performancevalue creationvalue destructioneconomies of scope
 

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In this article:
Introduction 
Firm-Level Stakeholder Orientation 
Stakeholder Economies of Scope 
Discussion 
References 

Abstract

An acquisition brings multiple stakeholder networks together into one combined firm, which inevitably results in changes to the relationships and value propositions the firm has with its stakeholders, and ultimately to the value the firm creates for them. In this paper, we argue that stakeholder economies of scope are possible through managing the stakeholder relationships of multiple business units in a way that creates more total economic value for stakeholders than if those businesses were each managed separately. For example, a broadly stakeholder-oriented acquiring firm can create a stakeholder economy of scope by expanding its broad stakeholder orientation to a newly acquired business unit. The increase in total economic value this generates for the combined network of stakeholders is not recognized in other types of economies of scope. Alternatively, we argue that when an acquiring firm with a narrow stakeholder orientation expands its orientation to a newly acquired division that is broadly stakeholder-oriented, the combined firm experiences a reduction of total economic value, all else equal, due to what we term stakeholder diseconomies of scope. Stakeholder economies and diseconomies of scope have the potential to help explain more of the large variance in the performance of acquiring firms than has been explained previously.

DOI:10.1561/111.00000036