Boosting radical innovativeness through start‐up acquisitions: the role of decision autonomy and structural integration

Since start‐ups often own cutting‐edge technology and knowledge, acquiring a start‐up can provide buyers with a unique opportunity to boost their radical innovativeness. As a result, start‐up acquisitions have increasingly gained importance. Acquirers, however, face difficult decisions on target autonomy and integration, which often constitute a dilemma. We analyzed survey data from 118 M&A and integration managers in charge of corporate start‐up acquisitions. Our results show that a start‐up's decision‐making autonomy supports acquirer's radical innovativeness. The structural integration of the target reinforces the positive effect of decision autonomy. Our work with the focus on post‐merger integration and the start‐up context contributes to M&A literature in several ways. We uncover a hybrid integration approach, showing that a combination of high target decision autonomy and the full absorption (i.e., structural integration) of the start‐up by the acquiring organization is most beneficial for acquirer's radical innovativeness.