The present study is about the critical success factors of cross border M&As. The present study is aimed at investigating the key elements behind merger and acquisition in FedEx, Vodafone and CNOOC. The study analyses both the pre and post-acquisition stages by carrying out multiple case studies and will highlight differences in performance of three M&As. This research was based on the case studies of three important cross border M&As of the history.  This research has relied on the qualitative data which is collected through secondary and primary data. Interviews with managers and strategic management professionals were conducted. This result has contributed in the literature by findings the success factors through using multi case study methods.

1.Introduction:

From last two decades, the concept of merger and acquisition (M&A) has become center of attention for academicians and practitioners. M&A is about to allocate the resources to those business activities which are intended to expand beyond the organic growth level (Vaara and Tienari, 2011; Harbison and Pekar, 1997). The first significant waive of cross border M&A was observed in 1990. One example is of the cross border acquisition activity which took place between Vodafone and Mannesmann. It occurred in 1990 and the price for this acquisition was $180 billion (Goulet and Schweiger, 2006; Uddin and Boateng, 2011). In the later half of 1990s and early 2000s, various mega deals took place among the renown multinationals. This cross border M&A deals has actually contributed in increasing the competitiveness of global business environment. The value of such M&As reached to the US$ 1.045 trillion in 2007. But, after the global crisis which started in 2008, such activities reduced substantially (Rui and Yip, 2008). The volume has increased due to the expansionary monetary and fiscal policies and it has become 36% of cross border activities during 2014 (Cooper and Finkelstein, 2014). It is expected that the cross border M&A will further increase in next few years, owing to the competition at the global level. Hence, this research aims to explore the present current issue in a more detail manner. Moreover, many researchers has recommended that success factors of mergers and acquisitions should be explored further.

As the trend of M&A has increased, this research focuses on three case studies of cross border M&A. The selected case studies are Vodafone, FedEx and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).The FedEx corporation acquired TNT with the intention to improve the competitive position in European Economic Area (EEA) delivery services. There exists lower influence of merger on consumers of Europe, hence it is easily approved by EU. The analysis showed that FedEx and TNT are not close competitors of each other and it has moderately helped FedEx to improve its competitive position (Brady, Davies and Gann, 2005). As mentioned by Ferreira et al., (2009) and Aguilera and Dencker (2004) that merger of Vodafone was one of the famous deals that occurred between two global telecommunication companies i.e. Vodafone and Mannesmann. Gassot, Pouillot and Balcon (2000) stated that Vodafone placed the hostile takeover bid to Mannesmann when it was in position to reformulate its strategy for improving the competitive position. In this deal, there were 47.2% shares of Vodafone which were offered to Mannesmann’s shareholders.  It was known as one of the highest stake gambling activities by the Vodafone.  One of the recent mergers occurred between CNOOC and Nexen. It is quite important merger as it occurred in the energy sector. CNOOC is a state owned company of China while Nexen is a Canadian company (Duncan and Mtar, 2006). Nexen Corporation was founded in 1969 and previously it was known as CanOxy. There are 80% of shares of this company which are held by an American firm. CNOOC was established in 1999 and it is one of the leading companies of oil and gas sector of China. It is the most profitable company of the sector as it earned 34% profit margin in the year of 2008 (DePamphilis, 2008). These facts about these M&As activities make these case studies more appealing and relevant to the current research. Therefore, these three case studies has been selected for accomplishing the research aim, as mentioned below. As per words of Eisenhardt (1989), case research approach is ‘a research strategy which focuses on understanding the dynamics present within single settings’ (p. 680). Therefore, by using the case study approach, this research aims to understand the dynamics which are present in settings of selected cross border M&As.

1.1.Research Aim and Objectives:

The present study is aimed at investigating the key elements behind merger and acquisition in Fedex, Vodafone and CNOOC. The study an