The impact of disruption on takeover and merger activity.

This studyanalyses the effect thatdisruptive innovations have on the deal activity withinthe different industrialsectors. This thesis will explore if there is anypredictive power in the rate of disruptionby relating it to the amount of takeover and restructuring activity and relative deal value. Different stakeholders (such as investors, consultants and management of incumbent firms)could benefit if such a relation would exist. The framework used for this study is tested on a sample of 99 industry-year observations in the three regions, North America, Europe, South & Middle America. Disruption is measured by the creation of a proxy which represents therate of disruption within a specific industry. The findings indicate that there is a very limitedeffect of disruption on the numberof takeover and restructuring deals, but it does not support any evidence that there is an effect on the relative deal value. As a result, it is recommended that future research complements and expands this framework(especially over-time)and studies the effects for other economies as well.