Diversification, Relatedness, and Performance

Diversification strategy determines both the scope of a firm's activities and the logic of portfolio composition. It is a cornerstone of corporate strategy, and, according to prevailing theory, it is of paramount relevance for performance. Frithjof Pils presents an overview of the empirical research on the linkage between diversification strategy and performance. The author uses multiple methods of quantitative meta-analysis and examines the nature of the relationships between diversification strategies and accounting-based, market-based, and growth-based performance. Subsequently, he applies multiple methods of empirical data analysis on a dataset of 350 multi-business firms to express the diversification discount and other measures of performance as a function of different types of business relatedness and core business industry. Ultimately, a two-dimensional model of the relatedness construct that comprises relatedness at the strategic level as well as at the operational level is derived. Based on the results, the author shows implications for the interpretation of past research, the design of future research including the use of meta-analysis methodologies, as well as management practice.