Within-business diversification in technology-intensive industries

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Stern, I; Henderson, AD
• 署名单位: University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin
• 刊物名称: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0143-2095
• DOI: 10.1002/smj.400
• 发表日期: 2004
• 页码: 487-505
• 关键词: Diversification; ORGANIZATIONAL EVOLUTION; technological change; resource mobility; BUSINESS STRATEGY

摘要

This study extends diversification research to a new level of analysis, examining how within-business diversification, which occurs when firms extend existing product lines or expand into new ones, affects organizational survival. While prior research suggests that corporate-level diversification accounts for relatively little variation in performance, within-business diversification matters a great deal, by influencing which start-ups survive and which firms better cope with rapid environmental change. Specifically, we find that the relationship between within-business diversity and survival is contingent on the amount of environmental change wrought by a firm's competitors as they simultaneously diversify their own product portfolios and innovate technologically. Analysis of the population of U.S. personal computer manufacturers from the industry's founding in 1975 through 1994 supports our premise: Regardless of its effects across businesses, diversification matters a great deal within them. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.