Corporate diversification boosts firm survival rates and value, reshaping industry landscapes.
The study looked at how companies diversify their products over time. They found that the average diversification discount is around 8%, but a big part of this comes from comparing older companies to newer ones with higher value ratios. When they considered the age of the companies, the diversification discount decreased by 15-30%. Diversification also helps companies survive longer, and older companies use it to move out of slow-growing industries into more profitable ones.