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The Impact of Divestment on Firm Performance: Empirical Evidence from a Panel of UK Companies

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  • Michelle Haynes
  • Steve Thompson
  • Mike Wright

Abstract

It has widely been suggested that during the 1980s many diversified firms narrowed the scope of their activities by refocusing on core businesses, primarily through divestment activity. This study examines the impact of divestment on firm performance, using an unbalanced panel of 132 UK quoted companies over the period 1985 to 1993. The results suggest that divestment has a positive, significant and substantial effect in raising the profitability of the vendor company. We find limited support for the view that the benefit from divestment is greater for larger and/or more diversified firms and firms operating with weak governance arrangements.

Suggested Citation

  • Michelle Haynes & Steve Thompson & Mike Wright, 2002. "The Impact of Divestment on Firm Performance: Empirical Evidence from a Panel of UK Companies," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 173-196, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jindec:v:50:y:2002:i:2:p:173-196
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-6451.00173
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    Cited by:

    1. Haynes, Michelle & Thompson, Steve & Wright, Mike, 2003. "The determinants of corporate divestment: evidence from a panel of UK firms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 147-166, September.
    2. Michelle Haynes & Steve Thompson & Mike Wright, 2007. "Executive Remuneration and Corporate Divestment: Motivating Managers to Make Unpalatable Decisions," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(5‐6), pages 792-818, June.
    3. Brown, T. & Panibratov, A., 2016. "Foreign divestment decisions: A theoretical framework," Working Papers 6450, Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg State University.
    4. Pramodita Sharma & S. Manikutty, 2005. "Strategic Divestments in Family Firms: Role of Family Structure and Community Culture," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(3), pages 293-311, May.
    5. Angélica María Sánchez-Riofrío & Luis Ángel Guerras-Martín & Francisco Javier Forcadell, 2015. "Business portfolio restructuring: a comprehensive bibliometric review," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(3), pages 1921-1950, March.
    6. Forcadell, Francisco Javier & Sanchez-Riofrio, Angelica & Guerras-Martín, Luis Ángel & Romero-Jordán, Desiderio, 2020. "Is the restructuring-performance relationship moderated by the economic cycle and the institutional environment for corporate governance?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 397-407.
    7. Manapol Ekkayokkaya & Phil Holmes & Krishna Paudyal, 2009. "Limited Information and the Sustainability of Unlisted‐Target Acquirers' Returns," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9‐10), pages 1201-1227, November.
    8. Fang, Yinhai & Xu, Haiyan & Perc, Matjaž & Tan, Qingmei, 2019. "Dynamic evolution of economic networks under the influence of mergers and divestitures," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 524(C), pages 89-99.
    9. Owen, Sian & Yawson, Alfred, 2006. "Domestic or international: Divestitures in Australian multinational corporations," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 282-293, December.
    10. Panos Desyllas, 2009. "Improving performance through vertical disintegration: evidence from UK manufacturing firms," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(5), pages 307-324.
    11. Humphery-Jenner, M., 2011. "Diversification in Private Equity Funds : On Knowledge-sharing, Risk-aversion and Limited-attention," Discussion Paper 2011-046, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    12. Coudounaris, Dafnis N. & Orero-Blat, María & Rodríguez-García, María, 2020. "Three decades of subsidiary exits: Parent firm financial performance and moderators," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 408-422.
    13. Meijui Sun, 2012. "Impact Of Divestiture Activities On Corporate Performance: Evidence From Listed Firms In Taiwan," The International Journal of Business and Finance Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 6(2), pages 59-67.
    14. Steve Thompson & Mike Wright, 2005. "Edith Penrose's contribution to economics and strategy: an overview," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 57-66.
    15. Erl, Ludwig & Kiesel, Florian & Koenigsmarck, Markus & Schiereck, Dirk, 2023. "Performance effects of sell-offs and the role of sell-off experience," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 244-257.
    16. Alex Mohr & Georgios Batsakis & Zita Stone, 2018. "Explaining the effect of rapid internationalization on horizontal foreign divestment in the retail sector: An extended Penrosean perspective," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(7), pages 779-808, September.
    17. Tokbolat, Yerzhan & Le, Hang & Thompson, Steve, 2021. "Corporate diversification, refocusing and shareholder voting," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    18. Elena Vidal & Will Mitchell, 2015. "Adding by Subtracting: The Relationship Between Performance Feedback and Resource Reconfiguration Through Divestitures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 1101-1118, August.
    19. Humphery-Jenner, M., 2011. "Diversification in Private Equity Funds : On Knowledge-sharing, Risk-aversion and Limited-attention," Other publications TiSEM 3e22d8a9-6846-484f-a09e-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    20. Valkama, Petri & Maula, Markku & Nikoskelainen, Erkki & Wright, Mike, 2013. "Drivers of holding period firm-level returns in private equity-backed buyouts," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 2378-2391.

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