Scope, Scale, and Concentration: The 21st-Century Firm

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hoberg, Gerard; Phillips, Gordon M.
• 署名单位: University of Southern California; Dartmouth College; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1082
• DOI: 10.1111/jofi.13400
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 415-466
• 关键词: us industries; MARKET; mergers; diversification; economies; acquisitions

摘要

We provide evidence using firm 10-Ks that over the past 30 years, U.S. firms have expanded their scope of operations. Increases in scope were achieved largely without increasing traditional operating segments. Scope expansion significantly increases valuation and is realized primarily through acquisitions and investment in R&D, but not through capital expenditures. Traditional concentration ratios do not capture this expansion of scope. Our findings point to a new type of firm that increases scope through related expansion, which is highly valued by the market.