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International and Product Diversification: Their Interrelationship and Impact on Firm Performance

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Listed:
  • Harry P. Bowen

    (McColl School of Business, Queens University of Charlotte)

  • Margarethe Wiersema

    (The Paul Merage School of Business, UC Irvine)

Abstract

Managerial decisions regarding the geographic and product market scope of a firm’s activities are the essence of corporate strategy. Yet, our understanding of the relationship between these strategic choices, and how they jointly interact to impact firm performance, remains equivocal; with the results from prior studies yielding more questions than answers. This paper provides a conceptual and empirical contribution to the international business and strategy literatures by presenting an integrative framework that captures the joint and simultaneous nature of the relationships between international diversification, product diversification, and firm performance. Our framework and empirical methods address several methodological shortcomings of prior work and provide robust statistical evidence to substantiate or refute prior empirical findings regarding the empirical linkages between a firm’s corporate strategic scope and its performance. A key aspect of our integrative framework is that is enables us to gain a better understanding of how managerial decisions regarding the firm’s geographic and product market scope interrelate, an issue that has not been the focus of much prior empirical work.

Suggested Citation

  • Harry P. Bowen & Margarethe Wiersema, 2009. "International and Product Diversification: Their Interrelationship and Impact on Firm Performance," Discussion Paper Series 2009-04, McColl School of Business, Queens University of Charlotte.
  • Handle: RePEc:msb:wpaper:2009-04
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    2. Garrido-Prada, Pablo & Delgado-Rodriguez, Maria Jesús & Romero-Jordán, Desiderio, 2019. "Effect of product and geographic diversification on company performance: Evidence during an economic crisis," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 269-286.
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    5. Dikova, Desislava & Jaklič, Andreja & Burger, Anže & Kunčič, Aljaž, 2016. "What is beneficial for first-time SME-exporters from a transition economy: A diversified or a focused export-strategy?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 185-199.
    6. Bowen, Harry P. & Baker, H. Kent & Powell, Gary E., 2015. "Globalization and diversification strategy: A managerial perspective," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 25-39.
    7. Zúñiga-Vicente, José Ángel & Benito-Osorio, Diana & Guerras-Martín, Luis Ángel & Colino, Alberto, 2019. "The effects of international diversification on the link between product diversification and performance in a boom and bust cycle: Evidence from Spanish firms (1994–2014)," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(4).
    8. Elisabeth Nocker & Harry P. Bowen & Christian Stadler, 2012. "Value Chain Relatedness: Strategic Complementarities and Firm Performance," Discussion Paper Series 2012-03, McColl School of Business, Queens University of Charlotte.
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