The Effects of Prior Performance on the Choice Between Related and Unrelated Acquisitions: Implications for the Performance Consequences of Diversification Strategy
研究了企业先前绩效如何影响其选择相关还是无关多元化，发现多元化前的绩效差异是后续绩效差异的主要原因，而非多元化战略本身。
Whereas a majority of previous research in the diversification literature has focused on the performance consequences of diversification strategy, this paper examines the reverse relationship, that is, the effects of a firm’s prior performance on the choice between related and unrelated diversification. This paper empirically tests and confirms the view that there are systematic ex ante performance differences between firms diversifying into related businesses and firms diversifying into unrelated businesses. These findings imply that ex post performance differences between related and unrelated diversifiers, often reported in previous research, are largely attributable to these ex ante performance differences, not to diversification strategy per se.