Build or Buy? Human Capital and Corporate Diversification

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Beaumont, Paul; Hebert, Camille; Lyonnet, Victor
• 署名单位: McGill University; University of Toronto
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF FINANCIAL STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0893-9454
• DOI: 10.1093/rfs/hhaf004
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 1333
• 关键词: CONGLOMERATE FIRMS; mergers; MARKET; relatedness; TECHNOLOGY; BOUNDARIES; size

摘要

Firms enter new sectors by either building on their resources or buying existing companies. Using French administrative data, we propose a measure of human capital distance between a firm and a sector of entry. Using a shift-share instrument, we show that firms build in close sectors and buy in distant sectors in terms of human capital distance. Firms build by hiring new workers, which becomes increasingly costly in distant sectors as it requires not only hiring more workers but also having more organizational capital to integrate these workers. Hence, firms buy in distant sectors to acquire already operational human capital.