Özet:

Changes in the economic structure of the world and technological developments have led firms to operate in intense competition where gaining competitive advantage has become one of the most important strategies. Firms can follow different methods to obtain competitive advantage. One of these methods can be named as merger and transaction. Thus, advanced production technologies, know how, brand image etc. can be transferred via these transactions which help firms benefit each other’s strengths in order to exist, differentiate and grow in an international competitive environment under the impact of globalization. On the other hand, businesses which want to be successful in the global market give importance to branding activities as well as producing high quality goods. Branding activities provide intangible advantages to firms by increasing their competitive advantage. Distinctive superiorities against competitors can be obtained via branding activities. New customers can be acquired, and market share can be increased by using brand image of the new firm that is established via merger and acquisitions. Measurement of branding activities has been an important issue for scholars and a brand performance concept has been suggested for measuring effectiveness of branding activities. Furthermore, it is possible to say that brand performance is an important consequence of branding strategies and activities of firms and it refers to the power of brand in markets. In summary, brand performance is a concept that reveals the effects of branding activities on reaching tangible targets such as sales volume, profitability etc. The importance of brand performance and competitiveness in the context of merger and acquisitions emerge as a remarkable research field. In this regard, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of brand performance on competitiveness in the scope of national and international mergers and acquisitions between 2010 and 2017. In the study, data was collected from 243 of 1208 firms which have conducted national and international mergers and acquisitions between 2010 and 2017. A general result of the analysis has revealed that brand performance has impact on competitiveness. This finding can be interpreted as a reason for conducting merger and acquisitions in order to increase the competitive advantage. We see that mergers and acquisitions have influence on reputations of firms, brand images and product reliability. The study reveals two dimensions of competitiveness: product competitiveness and operational competitiveness. Product competitiveness includes items such as durability, quality, conformance quality, delivery lead time of products etc. One can say that brand is related with tangible goods in the minds of customers. In this context, companies included in the sample gained product competitiveness through branding and brand performance. On the other hand, operational competitiveness contains items such as offering low priced products, ability to rapidly modify methods for materials and components, manufacturing similar products at a lower cost etc. When brand performance, product competitiveness and operational competitiveness are compared in the context of merger and acquisitions, it is determined that there is no difference among the firms that perform national and international mergers and acquisitions. However, we find that these transactions have different effects on the competitiveness dimensions. Furthermore, we find that the number of firms which performed international merger and acquisitions are more than the number of those which performed national merger and acquisition. It is considered that the different types (national and international transactions) of mergers and acquisitions provide different competitive advantage for the firms. The results revealed that firms gain competitiveness by gathering information and technology via international mergers and acquisitions. The results of T tests showed that there was no difference among the companies which performed national or international mergers and acquisitions in the context of brand performance, product competitiveness and operational competitiveness. Finally, one can affirm that firms are mostly performing mergers when compared to acquisitions. When all these findings are evaluated together, mergers and acquisitions can be used in order to gain competitive advantage. The need of a positive and strong brand image in the market can be met via mergers and acquisitions. Measuring brand performance and competitiveness in the context of merger and acquisitions is a unique aspect of this work. As a result of the analysis, current evaluations of brand performance and competitiveness have been presented for future research. Scholars can investigate the effects of mergers and acquisitions on firms by considering different aspects of these transactions.

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