Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: van Oijen, A.A.C.J.
Author-Name-Last: van Oijen
Author-Name: Hendrikse, G.W.J.
Author-Name-Last: Hendrikse
Author-Name-First: George
Title: Governance Structure, Product Diversification, and Performance
Abstract: Product diversification and its financial outcomes have been studied exhaustively. However, previous literature has focused on corporations, ignoring other important legal organizations or governance structures. In this paper, we study the diversification strategies of cooperatives and compare them with corporations. We develop hypotheses that predict that cooperatives differ from corporations with respect to the extent, type, and performance of product diversification. Data obtained from a sample of 118 cooperatives and corporations are used to test the hypotheses. We find significant differences between cooperatives and corporations. Therefore, our main conclusion is that governance structure does matter for product diversification and its performance. Other governance structures, besides corporations and cooperatives, and their influence in other areas, besides product diversification, could be promising directions for future research.
Creation-Date: 2002-05-28
File-URL: https://repub.eur.nl/pub/203/erimrs20020528112751.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
Series: RePEc:ems:eureri
Number: ERS-2002-51-ORG
Classification-JEL: L12, M, M10
Keywords: companies, cooperatives, governance structure, product diversification
Handle: RePEc:ems:eureri:203