Time: 2022/09/23 (Fri.), 13:30 – 15:00 （Beijing Time）

Title: Input Usage, Core Competencies and M&As

Speaker: Chaoqun Zhan, Sun Yat-sen University

Venue: Zhonghui Building, 106 (Jinan University）

About the Speaker:

Chaoqun ZHAN is an Assistant Professor in Economics at Lingnan College, Sun Yat-sen University. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from the University of Hong Kong, and his master and bachelor degrees from Wuhan University. His research interests are international trade and organizational economics. He has published in the Journal of International Economics, and others.

Abstract:

 The resource-based view holds that firms diversify to utilize core competencies. We contend that firms’ know-how in input usage is a key underlying element and study the implications for mergers and acquisitions. Firms, when entering new industries, are more likely to acquire targets with more similar inputs. Utilizing China’s WTO entry which lowered import tariffs as a natural experiment, we find that firms are more likely to acquire targets from other industries with exogenous increases in input similarity due to higher tariff reductions in their common inputs. Furthermore, the effects are more salient when affected inputs are differentiated, hard-to-substitute, or innovation intensive.