Identifying target for technology mergers and acquisitions using patent information and semantic analysis

Technology plays an increasingly important role in today's enterprise competition. Technology mergers and acquisitions (Tech M&A), as an effective way to acquire external technology resources rapidly, have attracted attention from researchers because of their potential realization of value through synergy. A big challenge that faces corporate managers and government policy makers is how to identify the appropriate target to support effective technology integration. In this study, we develop a model of target selection of Tech M&A from the perspective of technology relatedness and R&D capability. We present the results relating to M&A in the field of cloud computing in China.