How Achieving the Dual Goal of Customer Satisfaction and Efficiency in Mergers Affects a Firm’s Long-Term Financial Performance

Abstract

This article investigates how engaging in a merger moderates the joint impact of a firm’s achievement of dual goals of customer satisfaction and firm efficiency on a firm’s long-term financial performance. Many prominent firms grow through mergers. Recent examples in the services context include the merger between Toronto-Dominion Bank and Canada Trust, and the merger between Continental and United Airlines. Our results show that joint achievement of customer satisfaction and efficiency is beneficial in merger contexts, but not in nonmerger contexts. We investigate the moderating role of mergers using a longitudinal panel of 429 observations across multiple firms and industries. These results suggest that merging firms should not take a myopic perspective of only wresting efficiencies (as the finance literature suggests). Rather, merging firms should focus on simultaneously improving customer satisfaction and improving efficiency to maximize long-term firm value.