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Article
Environmental Performance of Food and Beverage Firms in Merger and Acquisition Deals
Journal of Agricultural and Food Industrial Organization
  • LiLi Eng, Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • Mahelet G. Fikru, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Abstract

We build upon existing theories of merger and acquisition (M&A) to examine the differences in environmental performance between targets and acquirers in the Food and Beverage processing (F&B) industry. In a cream-skimming strategy, acquiring a firm with better environmental performance may add to the acquirer's existing green efforts and improve their environmental capabilities. In a turnaround strategy, an acquirer may buy businesses from a dirtier firm and later bring them up to the buyer's environmental standard. Among a set of 13 M&A deals in the F&B industry, we identify deals where targets have poorer or better environmental performance (toxic chemical management) than their acquirers. Our finding suggests that, among the given set of firms, there is some evidence of improvements in the toxic chemical management rate of targets and acquirers.

Department(s)
Business and Information Technology
Second Department
Economics
Research Center/Lab(s)
Center for Research in Energy and Environment (CREE)
Keywords and Phrases
  • Cream-Skimming Strategy,
  • Environmental Performance Indicators,
  • Toxic Chemical Management,
  • Toxics Release Inventory (TRI),
  • Turnaround Strategy
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2020 De Gruyter, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
11-1-2020
Publication Date
01 Nov 2020
Disciplines
Citation Information
LiLi Eng and Mahelet G. Fikru. "Environmental Performance of Food and Beverage Firms in Merger and Acquisition Deals" Journal of Agricultural and Food Industrial Organization Vol. 18 Iss. 2 (2020) ISSN: 1542-0485; 1542-0485
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/lili-eng/49/