Diversification Strategy and Financial Performance of Insurance Firms: Evidence from Iran

This paper investigates the impact of diversification strategy on firm performance. The paper looks into three dimensions of diversification strategy in terms of staff, product and geographical presence, using return on asset (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) to proxy for financial performance. Using the fixed effects regression estimation method to analyze the data of 30 Iranian insurance companies in the period from 2012-2021, the article finds a significant positive impact of diversification in terms of staff education on ROA, while the relationships between staff diversification in terms of gender and experience with ROA are significantly negative. No significant relationship is found between diversification in terms of geographical presence, insurance policy, and premium with ROA. When ROE measures financial performance, the research reports significantly positive effects of diversification on ROE in terms of education and insurance policy. In contrast, the relationships between diversification in terms of gender and premium with ROE are found to be significantly negative. Meanwhile, the effects of diversification on ROE in terms of geographical presence and experience are insignificant. The paper contributes to the literature on diversification strategy by developing specific models to measure staff, geographic and product diversification strategies in the insurance industry. It also adds to the literature on the diversification-performance nexus by bringing fresh insight into the multiple dimensions of diversification strategies and their impacts on firms' profitability.