IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/csc/cerisp/200208.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Firm Diversification in the European Union: New Insights on Return to Core Business and Relatedness

Author

Abstract

According to ex-ante expectations, one effect of the increased competitive pressure within the Single Market was to drive firms to reduce diversification and refocus on their core business. This paper addresses two main questions: the extent and the purpose of multi-product strategies. Using a large database of 223 leading manufacturing firms in the EU, we document whether EU leaders reduced diversification over the decade 1987-1997. We then investigate if firms have de-diversified by re-focussing around a core of related activities, testing for alternative measures of "core" and "relatedness". Our results confirm that firms readjusted corporate structures around one (or more) core(s) of related activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Laura Rondi & Davide Vannoni, 2002. "Firm Diversification in the European Union: New Insights on Return to Core Business and Relatedness," CERIS Working Paper 200208, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY.
    • Handle: RePEc:csc:cerisp:200208
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.byterfly.eu/islandora/object/librib:364102
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Davide Vannoni, 2000. "The diversifield firm: non formal theories versus formal models," ECONOMIA E POLITICA INDUSTRIALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2000(106).
    2. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    3. Lichtenberg, Frank R., 1992. "Industrial de-diversification and its consequences for productivity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 427-438, August.
    4. David J. Teece & Richard Rumelt & Giovanni Dosi & Sidney Winter, 2000. "Understanding Corporate Coherence: Theory and Evidence," Chapters, in: Innovation, Organization and Economic Dynamics, chapter 9, pages 264-293, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. David J. Teece, 2003. "Towards an Economic Theory of the Multiproduct Firm," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Essays In Technology Management And Policy Selected Papers of David J Teece, chapter 15, pages 419-446, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Rubin, Paul H, 1973. "The Expansion of Firms," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(4), pages 936-949, July-Aug..
    7. Davies, Stephen & Rondi, Laura & Sembenelli, Alessandro, 2001. "European Integration and the Changing Structure of EU Manufacturing, 1987-1993," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 10(1), pages 37-75, March.
    8. repec:ccp:journl:v:19:y:2001:i:8:p:1315-1346 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Davide Vannoni, 2000. "Diversification, the Resource View and Productivity: Evidence from Italian Manufacturing Firms," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 27(1), pages 47-63, March.
    2. Johannes Boehm & Swati Dhingra & John Morrow, 2022. "The Comparative Advantage of Firms," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(12), pages 3025-3100.
    3. Gérard Charreaux, 2002. "Variation sur le thème:"À la recherche de nouvelles fondations pour la finance et la gouvernance d'entreprise"," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 5(3), pages 5-68, September.
    4. Villalonga, Belen, 2000. "Does Diversification Cause the “Diversification Discount”?," University of California at Los Angeles, Anderson Graduate School of Management qt40v212gm, Anderson Graduate School of Management, UCLA.
    5. Cynthia A. Montgomery, 1994. "Corporate Diversificaton," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 163-178, Summer.
    6. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/1dn2prktaq9p3949il1h9ds86b is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Emilie R. Feldman, 2014. "Legacy Divestitures: Motives and Implications," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(3), pages 815-832, June.
    8. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1dn2prktaq9p3949il1h9ds86b is not listed on IDEAS
    9. René Belderbos & Leo Sleuwaegen & Reinhilde Veugelers, 2010. "Market Integration and Technological Leadership in Europe," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 403, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    10. Piaskowska, D., 2005. "Essays on firm growth and value creation," Other publications TiSEM 89053610-79c6-4c52-9d1c-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. Teece, David J., 2010. "Technological Innovation and the Theory of the Firm," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 679-730, Elsevier.
    12. Mutinelli, Marco & Piscitello, Lucia, 1998. "The entry mode choice of MNEs: an evolutionary approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 491-506, September.
    13. Elsas, Ralf & Hackethal, Andreas & Holzhäuser, Markus, 2010. "The anatomy of bank diversification," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1274-1287, June.
    14. Elif AKBEN SELCUK, 2014. "Corporate Diversification, Group Affiliation and Firm Value: Evidence From Turkey," Journal of BRSA Banking and Financial Markets, Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, vol. 8(2), pages 151-174.
    15. Pettus, Michael L. & Kor, Yasemin Y. & Mahoney, Joseph T., 2007. "A Theory of Change in Turbulent Environments: The Sequencing of Dynamic Capabilities Following Industry Deregulation," Working Papers 07-0100, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    16. Ilya R. P. Cuypers & Youtha Cuypers & Xavier Martin, 2017. "When the target may know better: Effects of experience and information asymmetries on value from mergers and acquisitions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 609-625, March.
    17. Rui Baptista & Murat Karaöz & João Correia Leitão, 2020. "Diversification by young, small firms: the role of pre-entry resources and entry mistakes," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 103-122, June.
    18. Enrico Guzzini & Donato Iacobucci, 2012. "Firm size and unrelated diversification. An empirical test on the ‘survivalist hypothesis’," Working Papers 1207, c.MET-05 - Centro Interuniversitario di Economia Applicata alle Politiche per L'industria, lo Sviluppo locale e l'Internazionalizzazione.
    19. (Jianqiu) Bai, John & Mkrtchyan, Anahit, 2023. "What do outside CEOs really do? Evidence from plant-level data," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(1), pages 27-48.
    20. 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.
    21. Davide Vannoni, 2000. "The diversifield firm: non formal theories versus formal models," ECONOMIA E POLITICA INDUSTRIALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2000(106).
    22. Laurent Batsch, 2003. "Le recentrage:une revue des approches financières," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 6(2), pages 43-65, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Firm diversification; European integration; Return to Core;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:csc:cerisp:200208. 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: Anna Perin or Giancarlo Birello (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cerisit.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.