Abstract:

This paper, by using merger and acquisition (M&A) events of A-share listed companies in China from 2007 to 2021 as a sample, and constructing indicators of the degree of “big data” application by M&A parties through text analysis of annual reports, tests the impact of big data application by M&A parties on M&A performance. It is found that M&A parties that apply big data obtain a higher overall M&A performance compared to those that do not apply big data. In addition, information access is the main mechanism by which big data improves the M&A performance of M&A parties. Moreover, the enhancement effect of big data on M&A performance is limited to the target company being a public company. When the target company is a non-public company, it is difficult for big data to significantly improve the M&A performance of the M&A party, indicating that big data analysis can only provide limited information based on the public information of the target company. Furthermore, the effect of big data on M&A performance is enhanced when there is a link between the M&A party and the directors of the target company, especially when the target company is a public company (compared with a non-public company), indicating that the combination of limited “hard information” of machines and “soft information” of people can significantly improve the M&A performance. Therefore, “human-computer cooperation” may be an effective strategy to improve the M&A performance in the digital age.

Key words:

big data, limited information, director linkage, merger and acquisition (M&A) performance

摘要：

以2007～2021年A股上市公司并购事件为样本，通过年报文本分析法构建并购方“大数据”应用程度的指标，检验并购方大数据应用对并购绩效的影响，研究发现：相对于没有应用大数据的并购方，应用大数据的并购方总体上获得了更高的并购绩效；信息获取是大数据提高并购方并购绩效的主要机制；大数据对并购绩效的提升作用仅限于目标公司为公众公司，当目标公司为非公众公司时，大数据难以显著提高并购方的并购绩效，说明大数据分析只能根据目标公司的公开资料提供有限信息；并购方与目标公司存在董事联结，能够强化大数据对并购绩效的提升作用，尤其强化了目标公司为公众公司时（与目标公司为非公众公司相比）的并购绩效，说明机器的有限“硬信息”与人的“软信息”相结合更能够显著提高并购绩效。因此，“人机协同”或许是数字时代提高并购绩效的有效策略。

关键词:

大数据, 有限信息, 董事联结, 并购绩效