Why do companies choose to acquire rather than form a partnership? And when they do decide to buy another firm, what makes them choose one target over another?  Wharton research reveals that companies pursue M&A when there are both internal synergies at work as well as network synergies. Research on mergers and acquisitions has typically focused on exploring internal synergies — where the deal generates value by combining the internal assets that each firm owns and controls. Two Wharton papers mine the less beaten path of network synergies — the idea that the external partnerships of the combined company prove to be more valuable than separate partnerships the two firms would have inked on their own. The research papers are “ Network Synergy ,” authored by Wharton management professor Exequiel (Zeke) Hernandez and University of Minnesota professor J. Myles Shaver; and “ Acquisitions, Node Collapse, and Network Revolution ,” by Hernandez and fellow Wharton management professor Anoop Menon.…