In the modern globalized world with increasing international trade and booming information volumes one of the ways available for companies to stay ahead of the competition is diversification, both product and geographical. Theoretically, there is a lot of benefits that are commonly attributed to diversification (Williamson, 1979), however in practice, it is often the case that diversification becomes a value destroying activity (Porter, 2008). While more and more companies make attempts to diversify, it is important to understand what impact such activities can make on two of the most important matters of any company: performance and risk.
It is usually perceived that corporate diversification opens up new opportunities in terms of performance and therefore it is beneficial for companies. However, since 1970s academicians tried to understand the relationship between diversification strategy and firm performance, and in turns out that there is no one single answer; the evidence is mixed, and there are different views on the relationship (Dey & Banerjee, 2011).
Same goes for diversification and risk: there is a common perception that diversification reduces corporate risk, however the empirical results are mixed as well (Anderson et al., 2011). The motivation of reduction of risk by diversification, highlighted in the literature, contributes largely to explain the choice to integrate the notion of risk in this study.
In general, most papers study the impact of diversification on performance and risk separately, however there is lack of empirical studies on these two issues simultaneously. Moreover, as per our knowledge, very few studies were devoted to conducting such analysis with regards to the emerging markets, let alone Russia. With this paper we aim to fill this gap. Also, most studies are concentrated on cross-section analyses. Differently, this research uses a longitudinal data from a sample composed of large Russian firms, in order to analyze the firm activity perimeter evolution effect on its level of risk and performance in a dynamic prospect.
The research goal of the paper is to determine the relationship between corporate diversification and company performance and risk, using evidence from Russian companies.
In order to achieve the outlined research goal, we define the following objectives:
• To identify the theoretical background on corporate diversification;
• To study existing literature on corporate diversification and performance relationship, and on corporate diversification and risk relationship;
• To propose an empirical methodology of the analysis on the impact of corporate diversification on performance and risk;
• To build and describe a sample for the analysis;
• To conduct an empirical study on the built sample;
• To interpret results and provide managerial implications based on the findings.
This master thesis is an empirical research, in order to achieve the goal of the study we conduct quantitative analysis using econometric tools built in the Stata software.
The main sources of information we use for the purposes of this research are academic articles devoted to: theoretical studies of diversification, motivation to diversify, determinants of diversification premium or discount, the effects of corporate diversification on company performance and risk. In order to gather data for our empirical study we use Thomson Reuters Datastream database and annual reports available on official websites of the companies selected for the study.
In order to achieve the defined goal of the research, we structure this thesis as follows: an introduction, three chapters that cover all objectives of the research and a conclusion. The introduction includes goals and objectives of the research, along with the motivation and background of the study. The first chapter covers the first two objectives as is devoted to analysing the theoretical framework of diversification, and the impact of diversification on performance as risk.
The second chapter corresponds to the third and fourth objectives, as there we describe the empirical research methodology, sample selection and variables calculation. In the third chapter we cover the last two objectives, as we present the results of the econometric analysis and then discuss these findings as well as develop managerial recommendations.
Finally, the conclusion summarizes the results of the research in accordance with the goals set. Also, at the end of each chapter we provide a short summary in order to help a reader better catch the main points discussed in the chapter.
This thesis was devoted to studying corporate diversification and how if affects companies and their businesses. The research goal of the paper was to determine the relationship between corporate diversification and company performance and risk, using evidence from Russian companies. We accomplished this goal, and achieved all of the research objectives stated.
As a first step of the study, we investigated the theoretical framework of diversification and outlined commonly used indicators to measure diversification. We also reviewed the existing literature on diversification performance relationship and diversification risk relationship, which allowed us to make preliminary conclusions and define the hypotheses to be tested. As a second part of the study, we conducted empirical analysis which allowed us to determine the impact of diversification on risk and performance. As we measured company performance and risk by using both accounting and market based indicators, we managed to test our hypotheses separately for these types of measures.
We found that a diversified firm tends perform worse than an undiversified firm in terms of ROA and ROE, due to the higher asset and equity profile and the problem that the returns a company gets do not necessarily match the old undiversified profile, although its absolute return amount might very well be bigger. On the other hand, when analyzing the relationship between total diversification and Tobin’s Q, we found that diversified firms tend to have higher market value rather than undiversified firms; investors see corporate diversification as a productive risk management activity. Also, as per our findings, both related and unrelated diversification yield a decrease in performance. Overall, there can be numerous explanation for the phenomena, and this could potentially be an interesting topic for future research.
As for internationalization, we found that it has a positive effect on an accounting based measure of performance, ROA, and negative effect on a market-based measure of performance, Tobin’s Q. We inferred that when the companies in the sample go international, they are able to increase the returns without a dramatic increase in assets. We also concluded that in more internationalized companies total assets tend to grow faster than the market value.
As for the diversification and risk relationship, we found it to be negative for both accounting and market-based measures. Also, we concluded that Russian companies prefer to finance their diversification efforts with equity rather than debt. Another inference we made is that Russian companies prefer to use equity financing for unrelated diversification activities, and debt financing in a bigger extent for related diversification efforts. As for our results of internationalization-risk analysis, we found a negative relationship. We inferred that internationalization activities get higher earnings for the companies, which then use these increased earnings for debt repayment. All in all, internationalization benefits outweigh the costs for Russian companies.
Based on our findings, we developed a set of managerial implications. Managers should be aware that diversification can cause both positive and negative effects and should keep in mind the importance of developing capabilities and resources in a way that can potentially bring value across new segments in future. Resource and capability management is crucial; if it is not managed properly for diversification, then it is better to not diversify at all. An important implication for decision makers in Russian companies concerns geographical diversification: our findings imply that going international is beneficial for both performance and risk profile of the company. Also, it seems that there is demand for Russian companies’ products abroad, therefore managers should pay more attention to export possibilities. This is especially relevant during the current economic situation.
In order to conduct a thorough analysis, we used 116 references; and the contribution of this study is the coherent investigation of diversification relationship with performance and risk. However, there is clearly a scope for future research: besides of including more markets and industries to the analysis and then comparing the results, what could be valuable is to compare results of diversification via different modes such as M&A, greenfield or joint venture. Also, analyzing how companies could quantify the initial capabilities and resources, and comparing them with regards to diversification could also be a promising topic to study.
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