4. Business Performance and Advantages of Takeover

In this chapter, we introduce our case studies and approach to the measurement of business performance. The focus of analysis is on the relationship between, on the one hand, expansion, scale and different sorts of corporate configurations (whether owned by a multinational parent company; vertically integrated or not) and, on the other, economic performance and capacity to engage in business strategies that sustain growth in a digital multiplatform distribution environment. This chapter draws heavily on self-originated quantitative analyses of a number of key aspects of business performance and on qualitative analysis of original material drawn from interviews with leading executives across the selected case studies to examine the business advantages conferred on production companies that are taken over and to examine how ownership and changes in ownership configuration correlate with business performance in the television production industry in the twenty-first century. The findings presented show how, from the perspective of production companies, takeover and business performance are seen as connected and in what ways takeover is perceived as generating valuable advantages that enhance the business performance of those production companies which are acquired.