The relationships among merger relatedness, strategic aggressiveness, capability responsiveness, and merger performance

The problem. This study examined the relationships among merger relatedness, strategic aggressiveness, capability responsiveness, and merger performance.; Method. A descriptive correlational study was conducted. The data for this study were collected through questionnaires that were mailed to companies formed by mergers or acquisitions in the United States between 1998 and 2000.; Result. This study found significant relationships among culture gap, strategy gap, capability gap, and merger performance. Culture gap, strategy gap, and capability gap were inversely related to the combined firm's performance. This study also found differences between mergers and acquisitions. These differences are: (1) Companies formed by mergers performed better than companies formed by acquisitions. (2) Cultures of acquisition partners were greater than cultures of merger partners. (3) Sizes of merger partners were greater than sizes of acquisition partners.; Results of the study support the premise that combined firms formed by partners from the same industry had a greater difference in their strategy gap than combined firms formed by partners from different industries. Further, this study provided empirical evidence regarding merger relatedness and additional empirical support for Ansoff's strategic success paradigm.