A coming of age: Reviewing and reinvigorating the strategic role of firm age in boundary-changing activities.

Few activities are more central to corporate strategy execution than acquisitions, alliances, and divestitures. Yet, despite their indispensability, difficulties and disappointments with their implementation continue to plague firms. In efforts to help remedy these shortcomings, researchers have investigated how numerous firm-specific factors, including firm age, may shape the execution and outcomes of these three boundary-changing activities. Recent research progress and new perspectives about both firm age and boundary-changing activities suggest that their relationship demands reinvigorated attention. To meet this need, we begin by systematically reviewing the extant literature on firm age and the implementation of acquisitions, alliances, and divestitures to assess what has been learned. We synthesize our findings using an organizing framework, discerned from the review, that is structured around the three pillars of when, how, and what: (i) when does firm age play a role in the acquisition, alliance, and divestiture processes; (ii) how does firm age stimulate and shape these boundary-changing activities; and (iii) what are the effects of firm age on these activities and their outcomes. Then, drawing upon the themes and insights that these works reveal and evaluating them against the backdrop of new developments concerning firm age and boundary-changing activities, we advance a series of recommendations for future research and implications for practice.