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Acqui-hiring and deep-tech ventures : evidence from Sweden

Xiao, Jing LU orcid and Lindholm Dahlstrand, Åsa LU orcid (2024) In Papers in Innovation Studies 2024/11. p.2-28
Abstract
Recently, acqui-hiring, which refers to the acquisitions driven by gaining access to target human capital, has emerged as a proliferating phenomenon in acquisitions of small technology firms. However, we still know little about this phenomenon, particularly outside the community of Silicon Valley. This study sheds new light on the nature of acqui-hiring by focusing on what drives acqui-hiring. Using a sample of 213 technological acquisitions of Swedish technology firms, our results show that firms tend to be acqui-hired when they are younger and when they are based on the development of deep tech, a group of emerging disruptive technologies, of which the technological base involves high levels of technological newness and complexity. The... (More)
Recently, acqui-hiring, which refers to the acquisitions driven by gaining access to target human capital, has emerged as a proliferating phenomenon in acquisitions of small technology firms. However, we still know little about this phenomenon, particularly outside the community of Silicon Valley. This study sheds new light on the nature of acqui-hiring by focusing on what drives acqui-hiring. Using a sample of 213 technological acquisitions of Swedish technology firms, our results show that firms tend to be acqui-hired when they are younger and when they are based on the development of deep tech, a group of emerging disruptive technologies, of which the technological base involves high levels of technological newness and complexity. The results show a support to our initial idea that acqui-hiring could be driven by the acquiring firm’s need to acquire complex knowledge and/or new capabilities that are embodied in target key employees or engineering teams. In addition, we develop a typology and identify four types of acqui-hiring. We use case illustrations of deep-tech acqui-hiring to demonstrate four differentiated acquisition strategies, including technology strengthening, product expansion, product experimentation and technology experimentation. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Acqui-hiring, Deep tech, Technological acquisitions, Technological newness and complexity, Combined methods, Sweden
in
Papers in Innovation Studies
volume
2024/11
pages
27 pages
publisher
CIRCLE, Lund University
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ac3f81e3-cce3-4654-90c5-f0ab51919fca
alternative location
https://wp.circle.lu.se/upload/CIRCLE/workingpapers/202411_xiao.pdf
date added to LUP
2024-09-06 16:03:20
date last changed
2024-09-10 09:35:17
@misc{ac3f81e3-cce3-4654-90c5-f0ab51919fca,
  abstract     = {{Recently, acqui-hiring, which refers to the acquisitions driven by gaining access to target human capital, has emerged as a proliferating phenomenon in acquisitions of small technology firms. However, we still know little about this phenomenon, particularly outside the community of Silicon Valley. This study sheds new light on the nature of acqui-hiring by focusing on what drives acqui-hiring. Using a sample of 213 technological acquisitions of Swedish technology firms, our results show that firms tend to be acqui-hired when they are younger and when they are based on the development of deep tech, a group of emerging disruptive technologies, of which the technological base involves high levels of technological newness and complexity. The results show a support to our initial idea that acqui-hiring could be driven by the acquiring firm’s need to acquire complex knowledge and/or new capabilities that are embodied in target key employees or engineering teams. In addition, we develop a typology and identify four types of acqui-hiring. We use case illustrations of deep-tech acqui-hiring to demonstrate four differentiated acquisition strategies, including technology strengthening, product expansion, product experimentation and technology experimentation.}},
  author       = {{Xiao, Jing and Lindholm Dahlstrand, Åsa}},
  keywords     = {{Acqui-hiring; Deep tech; Technological acquisitions; Technological newness and complexity; Combined methods; Sweden}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  pages        = {{2--28}},
  publisher    = {{CIRCLE, Lund University}},
  series       = {{Papers in Innovation Studies}},
  title        = {{Acqui-hiring and deep-tech ventures : evidence from Sweden}},
  url          = {{https://wp.circle.lu.se/upload/CIRCLE/workingpapers/202411_xiao.pdf}},
  volume       = {{2024/11}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}