Cui bono? An empirical investigation into risk benefits of corporate diversification
基于现代投资组合理论和企业多元化理论，利用国际大样本数据，研究了相关与非相关多元化对系统风险、总风险和破产风险的影响，发现多元化降低了破产风险但未降低系统风险，可能引发股东与其他利益相关者的冲突。
While the diversification–performance link is well covered in strategy research, we know much less about the link between firm diversification and risk. This article draws from modern portfolio theory and corporate diversification theory to derive a comprehensive set of hypotheses on the impact of related and unrelated diversification on the systematic risk, total risk, and bankruptcy risk of a firm. Based on a large international sample, we find the portfolio effect to be more important than previously thought, while synergy effects appear to be largely counterbalanced by the direct and indirect costs of diversification. Specifically, we find that systematic risk is not reduced by corporate diversification, while bankruptcy risk is significantly lower in diversified firms, possibly leading to conflicts between shareholders and other stakeholder groups.