Diversification strategies and firm performance in Vietnam

This paper is based upon the assumption that a firm's profitability is determined by its degree of diversification which is, in turn, strongly related to the antecedent decision to carry out diversification activities. This calls for an empirical approach that permits the joint analysis of the three interrelated and consecutive stages of the overall diversification process: diversification decision, degree of diversification and outcome of diversification. We apply parametric and semi‐parametric approaches to control for sample selection and the endogeneity of the diversification decision in both static and dynamic models. For the analysis, we use the census dataset on the whole firm population in Vietnam, as a representative of transition countries. After controlling for industry fixed‐effects, the empirical evidence from the firm‐level data shows that diversification has a curvilinear effect on profitability: it improves firms’ profit up to a point, after which a further increase in diversification is associated with declining performance. This implies that firms should consider optimal levels of product diversification when they expand their product offerings beyond their core business. Other noteworthy findings include the following: (i) the factors that stimulate firms to diversify do not necessarily encourage them to extend their diversification strategy; (ii) firms that are endowed with highly technological resources and innovation investment are likely to successfully exploit diversification as an engine of growth; and (iii) while industry performance does not have a strong influence on the profitability of firms, it impacts their diversification decision as well as the degree of diversification.     

Organisational form and the economic impacts of innovation: the case of patent grant announcements

This study investigates the impact of corporate diversification on the value creation of patent grants. We find that focussed firms experience significantly greater market reactions to patent announcements than diversified firms. Diversification into related industries has little effect on the wealth gains of granted patents, while diversification into unrelated industries significantly reduces the wealth gains. We further find that post-announcement operating performance is significantly associated with the degree of diversification. Overall, our findings suggest that the selection of diversification as a firm's organisational structure has a negative influence on the value creation of innovation, and this influence is exacerbated when this diversification involves unrelated industries.     

Australian Specific Bank Features and the Impact of Income Diversification on Bank Performance and Risk

Since financial market deregulation, Australian banks have significantly diversified from a dependence on simple products such as interest‐bearing loans to a broader range of financial products services. Such initiatives have transformed the structure of the Australian banking industry and are destined to receive scrutiny following the announcement of Australia's financial services inquiry. Against the common view that attempts by firms to diversify can be expected to impact negatively on financial performance, we find no strong evidence to suggest that diversification has been unfavourable to the performance of Australian banks. We find rather that Australia's banks have improved their risk‐return profiles as an outcome of diversification.     

Green technological diversification of European ICT firms: a patent-based analysis

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates whether and how diversified firms in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector innovate in green technologies and assess the potential impact of these innovations on firm performance. The analysis relies on a balanced panel dataset of European ICT firms in the period 2009–2013. The results suggest an inverted u-shaped relationship between the extent of technological diversification and the likelihood to develop green technologies. Technological diversification generally increases the likelihood of green innovations, but too high a dispersion of resources across a large variety of different technologies decreases the intensity of green innovations. The results show also that the development of green technologies is positively associated with firm performance: ICT firms involved in green patenting activity perform better than ICT firms with no green patents.     

Exploring the effect of diversification strategy on R&D intensity using quantile regression: evidence from France

This study examines the relationship between firm diversification strategy and R&D intensity for a sample of large French companies between 2008 and 2012. Applying quantile regression, we provide evidence that the choice of diversification affects R&D intensity in a differentiated way. The results indicate that a low level of diversification (below the twentieth quantile) has no significant impact on R&D intensity. Conversely, a moderate or high level of diversification has a negative and significant impact on R&D intensity. These findings suggest that R&D intensity seems to be significantly higher in related-business firms than in unrelated-business firms.     

The effect of push and pull factors on an adjusted index of product and geographic diversification

This paper adjusts published product diversification data for vertical integration and geographic diversification. The resulting index is found to be significantly positively affected by R&D effort as measured by scientific input, while engineering input is negatively linked with diversification. It is also shown that profit and growth prospects in other industries have a ’pull‘ effect on diversification.     

Relatedness and coherence in technological and product diversification of the world's largest firms

The present paper investigates relatedness and coherence with reference to both product and technological diversification. In particular, it is argued that: (i) relatedness can be disentangled into three dimensions: industry-, technology- and firm-specific; and that (ii) coherence refers to both product and technological diversification. We provide empirical support of our premises with a study of a large cross-firm panel of technological and economic activity for 248 large firms over the period 1977–1995. The results support the view that large firms’ diversification processes are characterised by product-based coherence at the beginning of the period considered, and by technology-based coherence more recently.     

Corporation Diversification and Firm Performance: Evidence from Vietnamese Listed Firms

We examine the effect of corporate diversification on the performance of firms listed on the Vietnamese stock exchanges, using 2744 firm year observations over the period from 2007 to 2012. We find that corporate diversification has a negative impact on firm performance. Our results are robust to various econometric estimation techniques including fixed effect, instrumental fixed effect, Heckman selection model and system generalised method of moments. In the Vietnamese context, the lack of an efficient corporate governance system may encourage firms to follow corporate diversification strategies, thus impairing their performance.     

外部研发合作广度与新产品开发绩效：一个有调节的中介模型

基于企业外部合作伙伴分布广泛的特点,从外部研发合作广度的两个维度（市场广度和研究广度）出发,选取2010—2018年160家中国制造业上市企业数据,运用多元回归分析法探讨外部研发合作广度对企业新产品开发绩效的影响。结果表明,外部研发合作的市场广度和研究广度正向影响新产品开发绩效,其中,研究广度的作用更为显著;网络学习在外部研发合作广度对新产品开发绩效的影响机制中存在部分中介作用;知识库同质性正向调节外部研发合作广度与网络学习的关系。结论丰富了新产品开发绩效前因变量研究,对企业制定外部研发合作战略,提升新产品开发绩效具有重要管理启示。     

Firm value and the diversification choice: international evidence from global and industrial diversification

Our study examines the nature of industrial and global diversification for a sample of more than 12?000 firms across 35 emerging and developed countries during the period 1991–2006. Consistent with previous studies, we find that industrial diversification, either alone or combined with global diversification, results in a reduction of firm excess value. Global diversification alone, however, does not exert a significant impact on excess value. In an analysis of the decision to diversify, we find that firms in civil law countries or less developed nations are more likely to diversify, suggesting the greater utility of internal capital markets in economies where it is difficult to raise external capital. We observe that high leverage, larger size, lower levels of growth, R&D, free cash flow, profitability and Tobin's q encourage firms to diversify industrially. Higher values of q, firm size, R&D expenditures, free cash flow and liquidity, but reduced growth rates and profitability are associated with global diversification.     

Innovation strategies,process and product innovations and growth: Firm-level evidence from Brazil

Using World Bank ICS 2000–2002 data from Brazilian manufacturing firms, this paper identifies innovation strategies of firms – in particular internal development (“technology make”) and external acquisition (“technology buy)” – and their effect on successful process and product innovations. It subsequently explores the importance of process and product innovations for firm growth. Successful process and product innovations occur mostly through “technology buy” (mostly through the purchase of machinery and equipment), either alone or in combination with a “technology make” strategy. The option of only relying on internal development is less successful. The results on firm growth indicate that innovative performance is an important driver for firm growth. It is particularly the combination of product and process innovations that significantly improves firm growth. Both innovation and growth performance are supported by access to finance. Skills of workforce and management matter, but not necessarily tertiary education levels. The impact of international linkages on innovative and growth performance is mixed.     

Competition and ownership structure: Substitutes or complements? Evidence from the Warsaw Stock Exchange

In this paper we analyse the impact of product market competition and ownership structure on firm performance. Our results show that product market competition has a positive and significant impact on performance. Concerning the effect of ownership concentration, we find a U–shaped relationship with performance. Firms with relatively dispersed and relatively concentrated ownership have higher productivity growth than firms with an intermediate level of ownership concentration. This correlation between concentration of ownership and productivity growth is not explained by the type of the controlling shareholder. Finally, product market competition and good governance tend to reinforce each other rather than to be substitutes. Competition has no significant effect on performance for the firms with ‘poor’ governance; on the contrary, it has a significant positive effect in the case of firms with ‘good’ corporate governance. JEL classification: D24, G32, L1, P2.     

中国企业国际化多样性与创新绩效

国际化多样性作为一种成长战略，是企业国际化进程中的重要决策，然而当前关于企业国际化多样性对创新的影响机制研究尚为缺乏。以沪深两市A股上市公司为研究样本，实证检验了国际化多样性对企业创新绩效的影响，并在此基础上分析了企业国有股权比例、东道国制度水平对国际化多样性与企业创新绩效关系的调节作用。结果表明，国际化多样性对企业创新绩效有显著正向效应，东道国制度发展水平对两者关系具有正向调节作用；国有股权对两者关系的调节作用不显著。该结论丰富了以中国为代表的新兴经济体国际化研究成果，为国际化多样性对企业创新绩效的积极作用提供了新证据。     

THE DETERMINANTS OF THE INTER-INDUSTRY PATTERN OF DIVERSIFICATION BY U.K. MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES*

Evidence of the diversity of output of larger U.K. manufacturing enterprises’in 1958, 1963 and 1968 is provided in the Reports on the Census of Production. The Censuses show that between 1958 and 1968 diversification was a significant and general trend in manufacturing industries and an important element in the growth of firms during the period. Moreover diversification seems to be part of a longer term trend in U.K. industry and part of the typical development pattern of the large firm. A theory of the firm's diversification decision is proposed and from this theory predictions are made of the structural features both of a firm's primary industry and of outside industries which are likely to encourage diversification from the one industry to the other. The power of the model in explaining the pattern of diversification between SIC manufacturing orders in the period 1963–68 is weak, due in part to the wide variety of factors influencing diversification and to the aggregated form of the data. Nevertheless, the results show the importance of research and development effort in encouraging diversification and the stimulus to diversification given by profitability and risk in firms’primary industries and high rates of output growth in outside industries. While the findings offer no clear conclusions regarding the impact of diversification upon economic performance, the results are consistent with the propositions that (i) diversification encourages technical progress in industry and (ii) diversification increases the efficiency with which resources are allocated between industries.     

所有权性质、多元化经营与现金持有

笔者区分所有权性质并以股改后(2007年～2009年)上市公司非平衡面板数据为样本,检验多元化与现金持有关系,研究发现,中国上市公司多元化与现金持有不存在统计显著的相关性。但国有控股企业多元化与现金持有量显著正相关,而非国有控股企业中两者显著负相关。国有控股企业多元化反而降低了现金管理效率,而非国有控股企业通过多元化实现了更高的内部资本市场效率,从而持有更少现金。研究结果间接支持了现金持有的委托代理理论。     

Exports and innovation: the role of heterogeneity in exports

This paper examines whether and how heterogeneity in exports affects firms’ innovations in China. Using comprehensive transaction-level trade data from China Customs to construct various dimensional measures exports, empirical results obtained from a matched firm-transaction panel data find that exports overall have a positive impact on promoting innovations in terms of R&D and new product sales. The innovation-enhancing effect of exports depends on the heterogeneity in exports. Firms with greater varieties of exports, more market diversification, and higher export quality are associated with a higher R&D propensity and more new product sales, while process exports are found a negative association with innovations.     

多元化战略、企业研发支出与企业绩效的关系

以2009—2011年我国沪深两市制造业上市公司为研究样本,考察了多元化战略对企业R&D支出的影响,以及多元化战略对企业R&D支出与企业绩效间关系的调节作用。结果显示:多元化战略与企业R&D支出显著负相关;无论用ROA还是Tobin′s q度量企业绩效,企业R&D支出都与企业绩效显著正相关。进一步分析的结果表明:企业R&D支出与企业绩效的关系受多元化战略的调节,而两者间显著的正相关关系仅在专业化企业中存在。稳健性检验结果表明,上述研究结论不受样本选择的影响。     

Bank distress and firms’ investment during the Great Recession - evidence from Ireland

This article investigates the impact of bank distress on firms’ performance using unique data during the Great Recession for Ireland. The results show that bank distress, measured as banks’ credit default swap spreads (CDS), has negatively and statistically significantly affected firms’ investment expenditures. Interestingly, firms with access to alternative sources of external finance are not impacted by bank distress. The results are robust to accounting for external finance dependence, demand and trade sensitivities, which affect firm performance and the demand for credit.     

IS THERE A CURSE OF RELOCATION? ANALYSING THE CAUSAL LINK BETWEEN OFFSHORING AND THE INNOVATION PERFORMANCE OF (SMALL) FIRMS

We analyse the empirical link between offshoring activities and different dimensions of innovation performance at the firm‐level. In order to identify causal effects running from offshoring to innovation, we use a quasi‐experimental comparison group approach by means of (conditional) difference‐in‐difference estimations applied to German establishment‐level data for firms that conducted offshoring activities in the period 2007–13. We find that the international relocation of business functions has a negative impact on the firms’ propensity to be innovative in terms of product and process innovations as well as product improvements. While for larger firms the reduction in process innovations is most striking, potentially due to a lack of resources, stagnation in expertise and a reduction in intra‐organizational learning‐by‐doing associated with the relocation of some business activities, for small and medium‐sized enterprises we particularly observe a reduction in product innovations after the offshoring activity has taken place. When interpreting this ‘pessimistic’ picture on the link between offshoring and the innovation performance of firms, the reader should note that our findings for German establishments have to be assessed through the lens of a global economy in economic recession after 2008, which may have intensified the negative impact of offshoring on the firms’ innovation performance.     

R&D cooperation with scientific institutions: a difference-in-difference approach

Economists and business managers have long been interested in the impact of research and development (R&D) cooperation with scientific institutions on the innovation performance of firms. Recent research identifies a positive correlation between these two variables. This paper aims to contribute to the identification of the relationship between R&D cooperation with scientific institutions and the product and process innovation performance of firms by using a difference-in-difference approach. In doing so, we distinguish between two different types of scientific institutions: universities and governmental research institutes. For the econometric analyses, we use data from the German Community Innovation Survey. In total, data from up to 560 German service and manufacturing firms are available for the difference-in-difference analyses. The results suggest that R&D cooperation with universities and governmental research institutes has a positive effect on both product innovation and process innovation performance of firms.