Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
This paper analyzes the incidence of acquisitions, and the determinants of expenditure or acquisitions, in a sample of 110 U.K. quoted companies, 1970-89. Financial variables, especially those related to M. Jensen's 'free cash flow' theory of acquisitions, are found to be significant, notably for dominant firms. But there is little support for the inclusion of market structure variables which seek to capture the strategic role of acquisitions as an instrument of competition in oligopolistic markets. Copyright 1998 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd