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

Acquisitions represent a prominent channel of firms’ external growth. While the empirical evidence is mostly based on acquisitions by large incumbents, the acquisitive growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (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 deal, we explore which acquisitive strategies lead to high-tech SMEs successful scaling. We examine the type of acquisitions and its prospective outcome for acquiring SMEs in terms of profitable growth.