A methodological note on diversity measurement

This research addresses the question, do categorical and continuous measures capture the same construct of diversity? Using analysis of variance, cluster analysis, and discriminant analysis, we investigated whether continuous measures (entropy and product count) differentiate between diversification categories, whether continuous measures converted to categories and subjectively assigned categories classified companies similarly, and whether continuous and categorical measures predicted similar diversity–performance relationships. We concluded that the techniques were associated but did not yield the same performance predictions. For researchers investigating diversity–performance relationships, choice of measurement technique will influence research results. Our research results suggest that attempts to combine categorical and continuous techniques as a way to overcome the limitations of both methods is not appropriate.     

Construct validity of an objective (entropy) categorical measure of diversification strategy

This study measures the construct validity of an objective (entropy) approach to measurement of diversification strategy. Results indicate strong convergent, discriminant and criterion-related validity for the entropy measure of diversification. In particular, support for the entropy measure of diversification strategy was demonstrated through associations with the Rumelt subjective measure of diversification (convergent validity); size, debt and R&D intensity (discriminant validity); and accounting and market-based performance (criterion-related validity). Using structural equations modeling, the study reports strong standardized validity coefficients with a diversification factor (0.87 for the entropy and 0.94 for Rumelt's measures). The objective (SIC count) measure exhibits a low standardized validity coefficient (0.44) with the diversification factor. In a discriminant validity test, 70 percent of the variance in the entropy measure is unique to diversification while only 2.8 percent and 7.6 percent are unique to leverage and size, respectively. However, only 6.3 percent of the variance in the SIC count measure is unique to diversification. The study suggests that it may be more appropriate to use the diversification factor with both the entropy and Rumelt subjective measures for maximum accuracy (however, using either alone would be acceptable). Also, the results suggest that the SIC measure may be appropriate in more limited circumstances.     

Diversification strategies,business cycles and economic performance

Two major diversification strategies of firms are examined: diversification into related businesses and diversification into unrelated businesses. The first strategy attempts to exploit operating synergies. In the second, the firm attempts to gain financial benefits from its ability to increase leverage due to a greater stability of cash flows. The study utilizes a large sample affirms to assess empirically the benefits and costs of these two diversification strategies by developing a new measure of diversification across business cycles and economic sectors. This new measure is compared with Berry—Herfindahl type measures of total diversification and recent measures of diversification into related businesses. The results indicate that pure financial diversification is associated with (a) more stable cash flows, i.e. lower operating risk; (b) increased levels of leverage; and (c) lower profitability. These observations are in accord with the theory. We also reaffirm that firms which diversify into related businesses have, on the average, higher profitability than non-diversified firms, although these results are not always statistically significant.     

Using simulated mergers to evaluate corporate diversification strategies

This study suggests that simulated mergers can be used to help evaluate the effects of diversification on corporate performance. The results, which are consistent with a risk-reduction motive for conglomerate diversification, imply that conglomerate strategies focused on fewer and larger units may be advantageous in terms of certain measures of risk and return. Forecast error is used here to measure strategic risk, and return on equity is used to measure return.     

Technological diversity,related diversification,and firm performance

Previous findings that related diversification creates value have been called into question over concerns about methodology and measures. Reviewing existing theory to consider how a firm's knowledge base interacts with its product market activity, I address several of these concerns by creating a measure of technological diversity based on citation‐weighted patents. The measure indicates a firm's opportunity for corporate diversification based on economies of scope in valuable knowledge assets, is defined for both single‐ and multibusiness firms, and is not correlated with more fundamental aspects of diversification, such as the number of businesses in the corporate portfolio. Evidence from a large sample of firms shows the positive relationship between diversification based on technological diversity and market‐based measures of performance, controlling for R&D intensity and capital intensity as further indicators of the type of assets underlying diversification. Results hold when controlling for the endogeneity of diversification and performance in a cross‐sectional sample or when controlling for unobserved factors using panel data. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The measurement of corporate portfolio strategy: analysis of the content validity of related diversification indexes

Measures developed for the analysis of corporate diversification have become fundamental to a broad range of strategy research. This paper examines the content validity of the two most widely used continuous measures of related diversification—the related component of the entropy index and the concentric index—and raises fundamental questions about their validity as indicators of portfolio relatedness. These questions are not driven by the use of SIC data for estimation of the indexes; they involve validity problems intrinsic to the construction of the measures. The related component of entropy and the concentric index are sensitive to features of corporate portfolio composition that may not be directly linked to portfolio relatedness. These sensitivities can create important ambiguities in strategy research. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Diversification strategy,profit performance and the entropy measure

Several industrial organization studies, using diversification index measures, examined corporate diversification and economic performance and failed to find any significant relationship between them. Rumelt and other strategy researchers used a semisubjective classification scheme and uncovered a systematic relationship between diversification strategies and performance. This study combines the strengths of the index approach, namely, simplicity, objectivity and replicability, with the essential richness of Rumelt's methodology. Using the Jacquemin-Berry entropy measure of diversification and the line-of-business data, this study finds that firms with predominantly related diversification show significantly better profit growth than firms with predominantly unrelated diversification.     

Technological Diversification, Coherence, and Performance of Firms

Technological diversification at the firm level (i.e., the expansion of a firm's technology base into a wide range of technology fields) is found to be a prevailing phenomenon in all three major industrialized regions,—the United States, Europe, and Japan—prompting the term multitechnology corporation. Whereas previous studies have provided insights into the composition of technology portfolios of multitechnology firms, little is known about the relationship between technological diversification and firms' technological performance. Against a backdrop of the technology and innovation management literature, the present article investigates the relationship between technological diversification and technological performance, taking into account the moderating role of technological coherence in firms' technology portfolios. Hereby, technological coherence is defined as the degree to which technologies in a technology portfolio are technologically related. To measure the technological coherence of portfolios, a measure of technological relatedness of technology fields is constructed based on patent citation patterns found in 450,000 European Patent Office (EPO) patent grants. Two hypotheses are presented here: (1) Technological diversification has an inverted U‐shaped relationship with technological performance; and (2) technological coherence moderates the relationship between technological diversification and technological performance positively. These hypotheses are tested empirically using a panel data set (1995–2003) on patent portfolios pertaining to 184 U.S., European, and Japanese firms. The firms selected are the largest research and development (R&D) actors in five industries: pharmaceuticals and biotechnology; chemicals; engineering and general machinery; information technology (IT) hardware (i.e., computers and communication equipment); and electronics and electrical machinery. Empirical results, obtained by fixed‐effects negative binomial regressions, support both hypotheses in the present article. Technological diversification has an inverted U‐shaped relationship with technological performance. Technological diversification offers opportunities for cross‐fertilization and technology fusion, but high levels of diversification may yield few marginal benefits as firms risk lacking sufficient levels of scale to benefit from wide‐ranging technological diversification, and firms may encounter high levels of coordination and integration costs. Further, the results show that the net benefits of technological diversification are higher in technologically coherent technology portfolios. If firms build up a technologically coherent diversified portfolio, the presence of sufficient levels of scale is ensured and coordination costs are limited. At the same time, technologically coherent diversification puts firms in a better position to benefit form cross‐fertilization between technologies. The present article clearly identifies the important role of technological coherence in technology diversification strategies of firms.     

Regional Economic Stability and Mortgage Default Risk in the Netherlands

This paper investigates the relationship between regional economic diversification and stability, and residential mortgage default risk in the Netherlands. To describe and measure regional economic diversity and stability, methods from both the regional economics and the industrial economics literature are used. All measures are based on regional employment characteristics. Mortgage default rates were obtained from a database of the population of insured mortgage defaults in the Netherlands from 1983 through 1990. To test the relationship between the measures and mortgage default risk, cross sectional Seemingly Unrelated Regression was used. The paper concludes that the employed measures explain regional mortgage default rates to a significant extent, and that stability measures outperform diversity measures.     

The strategy-shareholder value relationship: Testing temporal stability across market cycles

This study examines the stability of the relationship between diversification and shareholder value across contiguous time periods, organized so as to highlight three distinct market cycles. By defining value as a two-dimensional construct, separating the concurrent economic phenomena of cycle and trend, and controlling for other factors that influence risk and return, this study finds that the best way to protect shareholder value against economic downturns is to diversify in a manner such that ‘all of one's eggs are in similar baskets’.     

International Diversification and Performance: Evidence from Singapore

This study focuses on how international diversification affects a firm in terms of multiple performance measures (accounting-based, market-based, and intangible value creation). The study is unique as it uses segment data made available only recently, which enables the examination of both product and international diversification with performance. The period studied coincided with Singapore firms performance during the Asian Financial Crisis. In contrast to previous studies on Singapore, our results show that product diversification is negatively correlated to all measures of performance, while international market diversification is positively correlated. We attribute the difference to the time period which covers both upswings and downturns of the economy, unlike previous studies which considered only the former. Other control measures were incorporated; firm size is highly significant in explaining all measures of performance but not so for firm age, leverage, risk and industry. For top managers, we suggest that regardless of economic climate, the dominant diversification strategy is to take a focused approach to product diversification, but a broad approach to international diversification.Dr. Er and Dr. Kwok are assistant professors in the Department of Finance & Accounting, National University of Singapore (NUS). Mr Lin recently graduated with a B.B.A. honours (1st class) degree from NUS.     

IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER: CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF RELATEDNESS HELD BY THE MANAGERS OF LARGE DIVERSIFIED FIRMS

In this study, chief executive officers were surveyed to evaluate how they perceive their firms’ businesses to be related. Responses from nearly 200 top executives provided the data for this study. Findings suggest that some managers think of relatedness in terms of similarities in products, markets, and technologies, a type of relatedness that is assessed by existing measures of diversification. The study also found, however, that managers hold additional conceptualizations of relatedness, including relatedness characterized by an emphasis on shared differentiation and marketing skills. The importance of the study’s findings and its contributions to the diversification literature are discussed. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Local Economic Base, Geographic Diversification, and Risk Management of Mortgage Portfolios

Variability of local economic conditions underlie, in part, the default and prepayment risks of mortgages originated in a metropolitan area. In this study we examine the benefits of diversifying across metropolitan areas for reducing these risks. Employment data for the thirty largest metropolitan areas in the United States, divided into eight industry groups, are analyzed with the aid of factor and principal component analysis to determine if the variances of employment changes across the thirty areas are independent. Independence is investigated to assess the potential for diversification. Mean-variance portfolio analysis is then used to measure the gains from geographic diversification vis-a-vis a set of several alternative strategies for diversification. We conclude that geographic diversification is an important mortgage portfolio objective and that mean-variance strategies outperform the alternative strategies tested here.     

Prior performance characteristics of related and unrelated acquirers

In the diversification literature, studies, particularly those using accounting‐based performance measures, have found that related diversifiers are more profitable and that related diversifiers are in more profitable industries than unrelated diversifiers. Due to the very nature of these studies based on cross‐sectional data, however, the causal relationship between diversification strategy and performance was not clear. This paper focuses on a single event of a large acquisition, which enables us to better identify the sequential relationships between prior firm profitability, prior industry profitability, and subsequent acquisition strategies. By doing so, this paper makes clearer the causal relationships between firm profitability, industry profitability, and acquisition strategies. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Why Agency Costs Explain Diversification Discounts

We study diversificsation within the real estate industry because of its relative transparency: portfolio management of assets with well-defined market prices. Diversification is over property types and geographical regions. The major cause of the diversification discount is not diversification per se but anticipated costs due to rent dissipation in future diversifying acquisitions. Firms expected to pursue nonfocusing strategies do indeed diversify more, are valued ex ante at a 20% discount over firms anticipated to follow a focusing strategy, are predominantly privately controlled and use dual-class shares extensively. The ex ante diversification discount is, therefore, a measure of agency costs.     

多元化经营与多元化折价--企业多元化研究的新进展

对多元化经营的讨论是传统金融学的一个重要议题。一致的共识是多元化经营会损害企业价值，多元化企业存在着多元化折价；而且大量的实证研究也具体度量了多元化折价程度。而近期对多元化经营的研究却从不同的侧面对上述结论提出了置疑。本文在总结了国外对企业多元化最新研究的基础上，认为对多元化折价的置疑本身仍存在诸多问题，因此，不能仅凭相对少量的研究结论就轻易否认多元化折价的存在。     

British Evidence on The Employment Effects of Profit Sharing

A sample of British firms with diverse sharing arrangements is used to investigate the effects of profit sharing on employment levels. Employment effects are sometimes significant, but this depends upon the measure of profit sharing, how the dynamics are modeled, and whether measures of employee participation in decision making are included in the estimating equation. Using a continuous measure of profit sharing, employment effects, which typically range from -6 per cent to 6 per cent, are much more modest than those obtained by some other researchers. Most findings are not dramatically affected by estimating the specifications separately for discrete time periods, for individual industries, or for larger firms.     

The performance implications of intra‐ and inter‐regional geographic diversification

Engaging the debate regarding the appropriate level of geographic diversification for multinational enterprises (MNEs), we examine a critical, yet unresolved, question: How is performance impacted by the MNE's level of intra‐ and inter‐regional diversification versus the total level of geographic diversification? Using data from 123 U.S.‐based MNEs over a seven‐year period and leveraging both sales‐based and subsidiary‐based measures for diversification, we find that performance increases at an increasingly higher rate as firms concentrate more heavily on intra‐regional diversification. Regarding inter‐regional diversification and total geographic diversification, we find inverted‐U relationships to exist between firm performance and the level of geographic diversification. Different from recent research on multinationality, our robustness checks indicate no evidence of a sigmoidal relationship between the degree of regional diversification and performance. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An analysis of the profitability of businesses of diversified companies

This paper presents empirical evidence on the relationship between diversification and profitability. The data set used in the analysis includes data on 55 U.S. corporations who participated in phase II of the project on Profit Impact of Market Strategy (PIMS).Following upon the pioneering work of Carl Kaysen, complex indices of diversification are developed. Cross sectional regression analyses indicate a statistically significant positive association between measures of corporate diversification and measures of business profitability (return on investment or profit margin on sales). These relationships are insensitive to variations in the treatment of outliers, and do not appear to be accounting artifacts.     

Curvilinearity in the diversification–performance linkage: an examination of over three decades of research

While an extensive literature examines the diversification‐performance relationship, little agreement exists concerning the nature of this relationship. Both theoretical and empirical disagreements abound. This study synthesizes findings from three decades of research to address major theoretical issues that remain open to debate. We derive three competing models from the literature and empirically assess these using meta‐analytic data drawn from 55 previously published studies. The results of our tests indicate that moderate levels of diversification yield higher levels of performance than either limited or extensive diversification. Thus, we provide support for the curvilinear model; that is, performance increases as firms shift from single‐business strategies to related diversification, but performance decreases as firms change from related diversification to unrelated diversification. The results also indicate major effects from variation in diversification and performance operationalizations. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.