Why do Cross-border Merger/Acquisition Deals become Delayed, or Unsuccessful? – A Cross-Case Analysis in the Dynamic Industries

The purpose of this paper is to analyze three litigated cross-border inbound acquisitions that associated with Asian emerging market-India, namely Vodafone-Hutchison and Bharti Airtel-MTN deals in the telecommunications industry, and Vedanta-Cairn India deal with oil and gas exploration industry. To do so, we adopt a legitimate method in qualitative research, that is, case study method and thereby perform a unit of analysis and cross-case analysis. We suggest that government officials’ erratic nature and ruling political party influence were more in foreign inward deals that characterize higher bid value, listed target company, cash payment, and stronger government control in the industry. Importantly, the liability of foreignness and liability of localness was found to be severe in Indian-hosted deals that describe higher valuation, cash payment and dynamic industry. We eventually propose implications of mergers and acquisitions for extractive industries thus to enhance productivity and improve welfare measures during post-integration phase.