Research On Value Creation In Continuous Cross-border Mergers And Acquisitions Of Digital Platform Enterprises

In the context of the rapid development of the digital economy,emerging platform based business models are increasingly replacing the traditional product centric and manufacturing oriented business models.Conforming to the trend of economic globalization,the gradually rising digital platform companies regard "cross-border mergers and acquisitions" as a major strategic choice for external expansion and technology catch-up.Enterprises have acquired strategic resources that are difficult to possess in their domestic market through cross-border mergers and acquisitions,so some enterprises have begun to conduct "continuous" cross-border mergers and acquisitions rather than "occasional single" mergers and acquisitions.Previous research has shown that in the process of cross-border mergers and acquisitions,reaching a merger agreement is only the first step in implementing an internationalization strategy.After mergers and acquisitions,integrating and transforming the resources of the target enterprise,and ultimately achieving value creation,is the long-term goal of enterprise survival and development.Existing research has paid little attention to the value creation process in continuous cross-border mergers and acquisitions of digital platform companies.This thesis aims to explore the evolution mechanism of value creation in this process and provide reference for the digital and international development of Chinese enterprises.This thesis selects Alibaba,a typical digital platform company,as a case study,and takes 13 consecutive cross-border mergers and acquisitions conducted by the group between 2010 and 2021 as the research object.Based on the perspective of resource allocation theory,it adopts an exploratory vertical single case study method to analyze the internal mechanism of continuous cross-border mergers and acquisitions promoting value creation.This thesis believes that:(1)According to Alibaba’s strategic objectives for globalization at various stages,its continuous cross-border mergers and acquisitions can be divided into three stages,namely,the technology accumulation strategy stage,the market development strategy stage,and the innovation and research and development strategy stage;(2)The resource arrangement behavior of continuous cross-border mergers and acquisitions of enterprises to achieve value creation follows the law of "resource identification-resource structuring-resource restructuring-resource leveraging".(3)To give full play to the role of the resource allocation mechanism,enterprises need to coordinate the use of value creation achievements in all aspects.On this basis,this thesis establishes a evolution mechanism model of resource orchestration promoting value creation in the process of continuous cross-border mergers and acquisitions,which enlightens digital platform enterprises to focus on acquiring external resources and cultivating their own capabilities when conducting cross-border mergers and acquisitions.However,it is also necessary to pay attention to the role of resource orchestration in promoting value creation,and handle the coordination relationship between the various stages of resource orchestration.