IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ist/ibsibr/v51y2022i2p643-668.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Dark Side of Firm Diversity: An Empirical Examination of the Impact of Firm Diversity on Resource Allocation Efficiency in Multidivisional Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Mehmet Nasih Tağ

    (Mersin University, School of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Business Administration, Mersin, Turkiye.)

Abstract

There is a renewed debate about whether multidivisional firms allocate resources efficiently across their divisions. This paper contributes to the literature on this debate by developing and testing a conceptual framework that links resource allocation efficiency to three forms of firm-level diversity: diversity in industry-specific knowledge, diversity in industry specific investment opportunities, and diversity in operations. Regression analysis of a large sample of multidivisional firms shows that resource allocation efficiency tends to decrease as diversity in either industry-specific knowledge or industry-specific investment opportunities increases. Moreover, it appears that the negative relationship between the diversity in industry-specific investment opportunities and allocation efficiency weakens and may even turn positive when the diversity in industry-specific knowledge is low. On the other hand, the diversity in operations does not appear to affect allocation efficiency. These results are robust to the potential bias due to sample selection. Combined with related theory, the results suggest that firm diversity could have either a detrimental or a positive effect on a firm’s performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Mehmet Nasih Tağ, 2022. "The Dark Side of Firm Diversity: An Empirical Examination of the Impact of Firm Diversity on Resource Allocation Efficiency in Multidivisional Firms," Istanbul Business Research, Istanbul University Business School, vol. 51(2), pages 643-668, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:ist:ibsibr:v:51:y:2022:i:2:p:643-668
    DOI: 10.26650/ibr.2022.51.904514
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/35CB734569D64EE481AE510F8156AC33
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://iupress.istanbul.edu.tr/en/journal/ibr/article/the-dark-side-of-firm-diversity-an-empirical-examination-of-the-impact-of-firm-diversity-on-resource-allocation-efficiency-in-multidivisional-firms
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.26650/ibr.2022.51.904514?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hart, Oliver & Moore, John, 1990. "Property Rights and the Nature of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(6), pages 1119-1158, December.
    2. James J. Heckman, 1976. "The Common Structure of Statistical Models of Truncation, Sample Selection and Limited Dependent Variables and a Simple Estimator for Such Models," NBER Chapters, in: Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Volume 5, number 4, pages 475-492, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Gabriel Natividad, 2013. "Multidivisional Strategy and Investment Returns," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 594-616, September.
    4. Milgrom, Paul R, 1988. "Employment Contracts, Influence Activities, and Efficient Organization Design," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(1), pages 42-60, February.
    5. Arkadiy V. Sakhartov & Timothy B. Folta, 2014. "Resource relatedness, redeployability, and firm value," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(12), pages 1781-1797, December.
    6. Philippe Jehiel, 2018. "Investment Strategy and Selection Bias: An Equilibrium Perspective on Overoptimism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(6), pages 1582-1597, June.
    7. Almeida, Heitor & Wolfenzon, Daniel, 2006. "Should business groups be dismantled? The equilibrium costs of efficient internal capital markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 99-144, January.
    8. Markus Glaser & Florencio Lopez-De-Silanes & Zacharias Sautner, 2013. "Opening the Black Box: Internal Capital Markets and Managerial Power," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(4), pages 1577-1631, August.
    9. Ozbas, Oguzhan, 2005. "Integration, organizational processes, and allocation of resources," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 201-242, January.
    10. James Robins & Margarethe F. Wiersema, 1995. "A resource‐based approach to the multibusiness firm: Empirical analysis of portfolio interrelationships and corporate financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(4), pages 277-299.
    11. Roman Inderst & Manuel Klein, 2007. "Innovation, endogenous overinvestment, and incentive pay," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 38(4), pages 881-904, December.
    12. Rebecca N. Hann & Maria Ogneva & Oguzhan Ozbas, 2013. "Corporate Diversification and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(5), pages 1961-1999, October.
    13. Grossman, Sanford J & Hart, Oliver D, 1986. "The Costs and Benefits of Ownership: A Theory of Vertical and Lateral Integration," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 691-719, August.
    14. Meyer, Margaret & Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1992. "Organizational Prospects, Influence Costs, and Ownership Changes," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(1), pages 9-35, Spring.
    15. Oguzhan Ozbas & David S. Scharfstein, 2010. "Evidence on the Dark Side of Internal Capital Markets," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(2), pages 581-599, February.
    16. Moshe Farjoun, 1994. "Beyond Industry Boundaries: Human Expertise, Diversification and Resource-Related Industry Groups," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(2), pages 185-199, May.
    17. Raghuram Rajan & Henri Servaes & Luigi Zingales, 2000. "The Cost of Diversity: The Diversification Discount and Inefficient Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 35-80, February.
    18. Hyun-Han Shin & René M. Stulz, 1998. "Are Internal capital Markets Efficient?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(2), pages 531-552.
    19. Hart, Oliver, 1995. "Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198288817.
    20. Constantinos C. Markides & Peter J. Williamson, 1994. "Related diversification, core competences and corporate performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(S2), pages 149-165, June.
    21. David S. Scharfstein & Jeremy C. Stein, 2000. "The Dark Side of Internal Capital Markets: Divisional Rent‐Seeking and Inefficient Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(6), pages 2537-2564, December.
    22. Yasemin Y. Kor & Joseph T. Mahoney, 2005. "How dynamics, management, and governance of resource deployments influence firm‐level performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(5), pages 489-496, May.
    23. Barbieri, Nicolò & Consoli, Davide, 2019. "Regional diversification and green employment in US metropolitan areas," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 693-705.
    24. Lamont, Owen A. & Polk, Christopher, 2002. "Does diversification destroy value? Evidence from the industry shocks," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 51-77, January.
    25. Venkat Kuppuswamy & Belén Villalonga, 2016. "Does Diversification Create Value in the Presence of External Financing Constraints? Evidence from the 2007–2009 Financial Crisis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(4), pages 905-923, April.
    26. Khanna, Naveen & Tice, Sheri, 2000. "Strategic Responses of Incumbents to New Entry: The Effect of Ownership Structure, Capital Structure, and Focus," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 13(3), pages 749-779.
    27. Matvos, Gregor & Seru, Amit & Silva, Rui C., 2018. "Financial market frictions and diversification," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(1), pages 21-50.
    28. Heitor Almeida & Chang‐Soo Kim & Hwanki Brian Kim, 2015. "Internal Capital Markets in Business Groups: Evidence from the Asian Financial Crisis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(6), pages 2539-2586, December.
    29. Robert H. Gertner & David S. Scharfstein & Jeremy C. Stein, 1994. "Internal versus External Capital Markets," NBER Working Papers 4776, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    30. Robert Gertner & Eric Powers & David Scharfstein, 2002. "Learning about Internal Capital Markets from Corporate Spin‐offs," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2479-2506, December.
    31. Brambor, Thomas & Clark, William Roberts & Golder, Matt, 2006. "Understanding Interaction Models: Improving Empirical Analyses," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 63-82, January.
    32. J. Michael Geringer & Stephen Tallman & David M. Olsen, 2000. "Product and international diversification among Japanese multinational firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 51-80, January.
    33. Robert H. Gertner & David S. Scharfstein & Jeremy C. Stein, 1994. "Internal versus External Capital Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(4), pages 1211-1230.
    34. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    35. Ilan Guedj & David Scharfstein, 2004. "Organizational Scope and Investment: Evidence from the Drug Development Strategies and Performance of Biopharmaceutical Firms," NBER Working Papers 10933, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    36. Zur Shapira & J. Myles Shaver, 2014. "Confounding changes in averages with marginal effects: How anchoring can destroy economic value in strategic investment assessments," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(10), pages 1414-1426, October.
    37. Ran Duchin & Denis Sosyura, 2013. "Divisional Managers and Internal Capital Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(2), pages 387-429, April.
    38. Wulf, Julie, 2009. "Influence and inefficiency in the internal capital market," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 305-321, October.
    39. Leslie E. Palich & Laura B. Cardinal & C. Chet Miller, 2000. "Curvilinearity in the diversification–performance linkage: an examination of over three decades of research," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(2), pages 155-174, February.
    40. Jaideep Anand, 2004. "Redeployment of corporate resources: A study of acquisition strategies in the US defense industries, 1978-1996," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(6-7), pages 383-400.
    41. Krishna Palepu, 1985. "Diversification strategy, profit performance and the entropy measure," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(3), pages 239-255, July.
    42. Emilie R. Feldman, 2016. "Managerial compensation and corporate spinoffs," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(10), pages 2011-2030, October.
    43. David Bardolet & Dan Lovallo & Richard Rumelt, 2010. "The hand of corporate management in capital allocations: patterns of investment in multi- and single-business firms," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 19(2), pages 591-612, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gatzer, Sebastian & Hoang, Daniel & Ruckes, Martin, 2015. "Internal Capital Markets and Diversified Firms: Theory and Practice," EconStor Preprints 169432, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    2. Min Dai & Xavier Giroud & Wei Jiang & Neng Wang, 2020. "A q Theory of Internal Capital Markets," NBER Working Papers 27931, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Hoang, Daniel & Gatzer, Sebastian & Ruckes, Martin E., 2018. "The economics of capital allocation in firms: Evidence from internal capital markets," Working Paper Series in Economics 115, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Department of Economics and Management.
    4. Vitkova, Valeriya & Tian, Siyang & Sudarsanam, Sudi, 2023. "Allocative efficiency of internal capital markets: Evidence from equity carve-outs by diversified firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    5. Stefan Erdorf & Thomas Hartmann-Wendels & Nicolas Heinrichs & Michael Matz, 2013. "Corporate diversification and firm value: a survey of recent literature," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 27(2), pages 187-215, June.
    6. Patrick Bielstein & Mario Fischer & Christoph Kaserer, 2018. "The cost of capital effect of M&A transactions: Disentangling coinsurance from the diversification discount," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 24(4), pages 650-679, September.
    7. USHIJIMA Tatsuo, 2021. "The Liability of Aging in Internal Capital Markets," Discussion papers 21065, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    8. Siraj, Ibrahim & Hassan, M. Kabir & Maroney, Neal, 2020. "Product demand sensitivity and the corporate diversification discount," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    9. Mazur, Mieszko & Salganik-Shoshan, Galla, 2019. "The effect of executive stock option delta and vega on the spin-off decision," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 132-144.
    10. Dongil Daniel Keum, 2023. "Managerial political power and the reallocation of resources in the internal capital market," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 369-414, February.
    11. Charles A. Brown & Chris R. McNeil, 2008. "Internal capital market subsidies and industry downturns," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 48(3), pages 337-361, September.
    12. Kim, Sehoon, 2020. "Disappearing Discounts: Hedge Fund Activism in Conglomerates," MPRA Paper 100876, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Stefan Erdorf & Thomas Hartmann-Wendels & Nicolas Heinrichs & Michael Matz, 2012. "Corporate Diversification and Firm Value: A Survey of Recent Literature," Cologne Graduate School Working Paper Series 03-01, Cologne Graduate School in Management, Economics and Social Sciences.
    14. Stein, Jeremy C., 2003. "Agency, information and corporate investment," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 111-165, Elsevier.
    15. Iskenderoglu, Cansu, 2021. "Managerial discretion and efficiency of internal capital markets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    16. Volkov, Nikanor I. & Smith, Garrett C., 2015. "Corporate diversification and firm value during economic downturns," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 160-175.
    17. Oliver Boguth & Ran Duchin & Mikhail Simutin, 2022. "Dissecting Conglomerate Valuations," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(2), pages 1097-1131, April.
    18. Ly, Kim Cuong & Liu, Hong & Opong, Kwaku, 2017. "Who acquires whom among stand-alone commercial banks and bank holding company affiliates?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 144-158.
    19. Jeremy C. Stein, 2002. "Information Production and Capital Allocation: Decentralized versus Hierarchical Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(5), pages 1891-1921, October.
    20. Holger Mueller, 2016. "Reallocation of Capital and Labor within Firms," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 152(4), pages 289-303, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ist:ibsibr:v:51:y:2022:i:2:p:643-668. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ertugrul YASAR (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/isisttr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.