EFFECT OF KNOWLEDGE UTILIZATION ON ENTREPRENEURIAL FIRM PERFORMANCE: A CRITICALANALYSES OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS AS ENABLERS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL FIRMS' COMPETITIVENESS

Abstract

“Mergers and acquisitions are the key to an organization's strategic development of knowledge. The foregoing is a critical evaluation of the above statement using desk research to gather academic literature and current business examples on the topic. The paper critically evaluates the effect of knowledge utilization on entrepreneurial firm performance. It is organized under the subheadings of importance of entrepreneurial organizations, organization's strategic planning, Mergers and acquisitions as strategies for organizational competitiveness, Knowledge acquisition through mergers and acquisitions, knowledge utilization as a driving tool for competitive advantage, critical analysis and conclusions and recommendations. From the analyses, it is clear that Mergers and acquisition arrangements are used for Knowledge acquisition and utilization as well as for creating and securing of new markets. Reduction of cost pressures and utilization of economies of scale emerged as some of the other importance of mergers and acquisitions. The paper concludes that organizational knowledge is a strategic capability which if well managed would lead to “innovative products or processes, organizational profitability and competitiveness”; and recommends a balanced utilization of the knowledge systems' key resources (people, processes and technology) for effectiveness