6. Conclusion
In closing, our research contributes to acquisition research in several ways. First, we demonstrate that entrepreneurial leadership is important for acquisition implementation and thus, for acquisition performance. Second, we give evidence that acquisitions provide firms several pathways to performance via exploration and exploitation. Third, the diverging results on the contingency factors of industry-wide and target market environmental hostility give evidence that acquisition performance does not solely derive from internal reconfiguration and realignment measures but is additionally impacted by external circumstances.
