A bird in the hand or two in the bush? Integration trade-offs in technology-grafting acquisitions

Technology-grafting acquisitions are the acquisitions of technology-based entrepreneurial firms by established firms. They are often motivated by the need to bring products speedily to market, as well as develop future product pipelines. We argue that these are conflicting objectives; a trade-off between short and long-term performance arises because acquisition integration has opposite effects on the strength of the organizational linkages between target and acquirer, and on the continued innovative capacity of the target firm. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.