%I Elsevier BV %L discovery10178163 %N 6 %A Duncan N Angwin %A Uma Urs %A Naaguesh Appadu %A Ioannis C Thanos %A Stavros Vourloumis %A Minas N Kastanakis %T Does merger & acquisition (M&A) strategy matter? A contingency perspective %J European Management Journal %K M&As; M&A strategy; Contingency perspective; Acquiring firm level strategy; CEO motivation; Typology %X This paper takes a contingency approach to investigate whether there are market performance variations for different types of M&A. Eight different types of M&A are identified in a typology based upon the conjunction of three contextual dimensions: external environmental, acquiring firm level strategy and CEO motivation. Drawing upon a sample of 1,926 domestic UK deals we evaluate the typology to determine whether the financial markets distinguish between different types of M&A. Results indicate significant market and risk-adjusted performance differences by M&A type. These confirm that a contingency approach to M&A performance has merit. We suggest that the proposed integrated typology, that recognizes the importance of multiple aspects of strategic fit to M&A performance, addresses the paradox that M&A practitioners continue to pursue deals despite widespread acceptance that they result in high failure rates. %O Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/). %D 2022 %P 847-856 %V 40