Initial Public Offering and External Growth of French SMEs

The initial public offering is a key step in a firm's growth process. However, few studies investigate the relationship between initial public offerings and firm's external growth strategy. Our results highlight that many French SMEs implement an external growth strategy after their listing, even if they don't have a previous acquisition experience, hereby suggesting a two-step growth strategy. Thus, financial and strategic decisions appear to be intermingled in the initial public offering context.