Exploring the Acquisitive Growth Strategies of SMEs: The Case of Life Science European Start-ups

Acquisitions represent a prominent channel of firms’ external growth. While the evidence is mostly based on acquisitions by large incumbents, the acquisitive growth of SMEs is largely overlooked. Small firms have such distinctive characteristics that are likely to shape acquisitive growth and its outcomes in a different way with respect to what has been already theorized for acquisitions involving large firms. Using comprehensive data on acquisitions deals and liquidity events, we explore the acquisitive growth strategies of SMEs in the life science industry. We examine the type of acquisitions and its prospective outcome for acquiring SMEs by relying on tangible milestones of firms’ liquidity events (i.e., IPO, M&A, bankruptcy).