Research Of Schlumberger's Strategy,M&A And Performance

International oil prices have fallen sharply since 2014.During this period,merger and acquisition(M&A)activities occurred frequently.Many oilfield engineering and technical service companies(oil service companies)have been severely hit.In the environment of a sluggish industry,how to survive is the top priority of some oil service companies.Although there are many researches on the M&A behavior of oil service companies,the research on the overall M&A history of a specific oil service company is rare.Schlumberge continued M&A activities through its history.In addition to the 64 major M&A activities recorded in the annual reports,there are many small-scale M&A activities that have not been recorded in detail.This paper selects Schlumberger as research object,trying to summarize its pattern of mergers and acquisitions,which could be learned by Chinese oil service industry.Based on related theories of mergers and acquisitions,this paper uses the method of induction,quantitative analysis,qualitative analysis,and comparative analysis to study Schlumberger's M&A motives,M&A integration and enterprise performance.Schlumberger can predict industry situation when corporate performance is declining,adjust its corporate strategy earlier than other companies,and conduct a series of M&A activities.Driven by its IT-assisted information strategy and single-technology leadership strategy,offshore oil service development strategy and global business deployment strategy,re-integration strategy and integrated solution strategy as well as integration strategy,Schlumberger conducted corresponding M&A activities in different strategic stages.At the same time,Schlumberger emphasized the integration activities after mergers and acquisitions,and gradually formed a business-geographical structure and a unified service support management platform under GeoMarket,which are consistent with the strategies.After excluding the effects of other available factors,this paper finds that under the influence of Schlumberger strategy-driven M&A and integration activities,both short-term and long-term performance have been effectively improved causing Schlumberger to get out of the shadow of the industry crisis earlier than other oil service companies.In the end,this paper proposes suggestions forChinese oil service enterprises from three aspects: prudently thinking about the causes of mergers and acquisitions,paying attention to the process of late integration,and continuously improving corporate performance.