Acquisition and collaboration as determinants of organisational structure

We analyse acquisition and collaboration as two dimensions underlying hybrid enterprise structures. Two two-period games with discounting conceptualise firm creation path-dependently, compared with one simultaneous game. The impact of organisational boundary changes via imposing required processes on acquired units is assessed, alongside the impact of new acquired units on the organisation’s priorities. The organisation’s incentive to enhance operational standardisation increases ceteris paribus with the specification diversity among the units within the organisation under certain conditions. Units within an organisation are less prone to acquire new units, the more the mean specification preference of inside units deviates from the mean specification preference of non-acquired units for specification that can be expected to become standardised subsequently. Conversely, inside units are more likely to acquire new units before choosing collaboration, the more mean specification preference of inside units deviates from the mean preference of non-acquired units for specifications that have already been harmonised.