Conglomerate Industry Choice and Product Differentiation

Gerard Hoberg and Gordon Phillips

No 17221, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We use text-based computational analysis of business descriptions from 10-Ks to examine in which industries conglomerates are most likely to operate and to understand conglomerate valuations. We find that conglomerates are more likely to operate in industry pairs that are closer together in the product space and in industry pairs that have profitable opportunities "between" them. Conglomerate firms have lower stock market valuations than matched single-segment firms when their products are easier to replicate with single-segment firms. Conglomerate firms have stock market premiums when they have higher product differentiation and produce in more profitable industries. These findings are consistent with successful conglomerate firms having higher product differentiation and lower cost entry into profitable markets when operating in strategically chosen industry pairs.

JEL-codes: G34 L1 L22 L25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec
Note: CF IO
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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