Reasons For Conglomeration: Empirical Analysis Of Management Responses In Chile

This paper is intended to contribute to the understanding of the motivations behind the diversification decisions of the Chilean “economic groups”. With this objective we surveyed the largest such groups in Chile. Our results show that the most important reasons for diversification for the top management of the Chilean business groups are managerial synergies (board of directors), financial synergies, information synergies and some specific operational synergies such as economies of scope in research and development. Also, most of the respondents stated that the diversification decisions of their firms or business groups have increased the multimarket contact with other companies or groups, influencing the strategies and diversification of competitors. The relationship between the degree of diversification of a group and its stated reasons for diversification are also analyzed. Significant differences in the motivations for diversification exist, depending on the group's actual level of diversification. Specifically, variables such as multimarket contact and access to the capital market are more important in more diversified groups. We also analyze the relationship between the size of a group and its stated reasons for diversification. There appear to be no significant differences between the answers of the management of bigger and smaller conglomerates. However, there is a positive correlation between the size of the groups and their level of diversification.