Build or Buy? Human Capital and Corporate Diversification
利用法国行政数据，研究发现企业进入新行业时，若与自身人力资本距离近则选择自建，距离远则选择收购，因为自建在远距离行业需要更多组织资本整合新员工。
Abstract 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.