Here’s a question. What do the following mergers and acquisitions have in common: Lenovo and IBM’s PC division, TCL and Thomson Electronics’ TV arm, and BenQ and Siemen’s cellphone business?

According to Teng Bingsheng, Associate Professor of Strategic Management and Associate Dean responsible for the CKGSB MBA program, there is one common thread that runs through most of the global acquisitions done by Chinese companies: in most cases — and as these examples show — they go after giants in trouble. “They believe in the flawed notion that size is power,” he says.

In this interview, Prof Teng elaborates on the challenges associated with such M&As.