This thesis answers calls for fine-grained studies of product diversification, in this case, predominantly using the resource based view of the firm. The context is UK providers of banking services. The thesis has developed the concept of resource matching. Resource matching combines levels of: resource heterogeneity, resource similarity and difference, and the external environmental setting of the organisation with the business performance of product diversification. Resource matching significantly increases the limited conceptual underpinning of diversification RBV by adapting and developing concepts from single firm RBV literature. Two new research strategies were developed to gather data on multiple resources and external factors. One was unused due to access issues during the credit crunch. The other, which was used, utilised multiple sources of publicly available information both qualitative and quantitative. These conceptual and methodological developments offer a way to restart the research on the impact of product diversification on business performance. This research has stalled due to conflicting results and methodological issues. Twenty nine providers of banking services in the UK where examined: building societies; other providers of retail banking services; providers of investment banking services; and combined banks which offer both investment and retail banking services. This thesis found: varying amounts of resource heterogeneity, resource bundles can be constructed from publicly available external data, performance in diversification does not adhere to the previously posited curvilinear pattern but to one of the greater the product diversification the greater the business performance risk and reward, with rewards being both positive and negative, and finally the external environment does vary within the industry. The results on product diversification performance suggest of a new way of looking at product diversification which might reconcile the previous conflicting results. A modified version of the conceptual model of resource matching was developed to take account of the results. Opportunities for further work include; studying other industries and providers of banking services in other countries, refining the single industry fine grained research methods and further developing the resource matching model.

Prior research shows that family firms are generally less likely to diversify, but it remains unclear which mode of diversification in terms of internal versus external diversification family firms are more likely to choose once they decide to diversify. Similarly, it is unclear which type of diversification in terms of product versus international diversification family firms are more likely to focus on in comparison to nonfamily firms. Based on insights drawn from the goals, governance, and resources framework, this dissertation investigates the modes/types of diversification in family and nonfamily firms, as well as among various types of family firms. Specifically, I propose that family firms will prefer internal to external diversification to a larger extent than nonfamily firms. I further propose the strength of preference for internal to external diversification is likely to vary among different types of family firms manifested in the level of family ownership, family participation in the top management team and board, and generation of family members owning and controlling the family firm. Likewise, I theorize that family firms would prefer product to international diversification to a larger extent than nonfamily firms and that the strength of preference for product diversification is likely to vary among different types of family firms. A sample of 573 firms drawn from the S&P 1500 index was used toexamine the difference between family and nonfamily firms, and 136 family firms to test the heterogeneity hypotheses. No significant differences were found between family and nonfamily firms in their relative choice on internal over external diversification (Essay 1) and product over international diversification(Essay 2). Consistent with my prediction, I found family representation in the top management team has a significantly positive effect on a firm's tendency to engage in product rather than international diversification. However, in both Essay1 and Essay 2,I did not find significant effects of the other heterogeneous variables on a family firm's tendency to engage in one mode/type of diversification over the other. A rationale for these non-significant relationships is provided. Contributions and implications of this study are also discussed.

The relationships between supply chain management and its corresponding¡@variables are the focus in this research. Furthermore, this study tries to explore the¡@interaction between supply chain management and those corresponding variables on¡@both the effectiveness of supply chain and whole organization. The main variables¡@employed at this study include, supply chain strategy, supply chain ability, competitive strategy, and product diversification. Through mail to collect data, the companies with related diversification are the goals to deliver questionnaires. The results that the more a company emphasizes competitive strategies than his competitors, the better his operating performance is. However, supply chain strategy, supply chain ability, and the degree of product diversification do not have significant effect on a company¡¦s operating performance.

Small businesses make up about 90% of all business entities and employ about 60% of the total workforce, yet 50% of small businesses fail within their first 5 years. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore how SBOs use the appropriate product diversification strategies to remain sustainable. The sample population were 3 small retail business owners in a large-sized county in the Washington, D. C. metropolitan area who employed fewer than 19 people and have successfully used product diversification strategies to remain sustainable beyond 5 years. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and company document reviews. Data analysis entailed using an alphabetic coding process to identify the frequency and importance of themes. Grounded in the conceptual framework of the model of market orientation, this study revealed 4 themes that could help small business owners use the appropriate product diversification strategies to remain sustainable: customer-centric decision-making, market-trend orientation, resource orientation, and complementary products and services. The implications for positive social change include the potential to give small business owners a decision-making framework to achieve sustainability and growth, which would contribute to healthy economic conditions through consumerism, higher employment rates, and a reduction in poverty. The findings of this study could benefit local, small businesses and communities.

In spite of the prevalence and strategic importance of diversification for US hospitality firms, research on the effects of diversification has been insufficient in the hospitality literature. Especially, examination of the moderating effect of product or brand diversification on the relationship between geographic diversification and performance of US hospitality firms has been lacking in the hospitality field thus far. This study aims to investigate the effect of each diversification strategy on firm performance for US casino, restaurant, and lodging industries. Further, to investigate effects of diversification comprehensively by incorporating interactions between different diversification strategies, this study attempts to examine the moderating effect of product diversification on the relationship between geographic diversification and performance of US casino firms, and the moderating effect of brand diversification on the relationship between geographic diversification and performance of US restaurant and lodging firms. To accomplish study purposes, this study employs fixed effects and fixed effects instrumental variable regressions analyses, which strictly address the endogeneity problem, thereby enhancing causality between diversification and firm performance. The sample of this study consists of 336 observations of 43 casino firms, 176 observations of 36 lodging firms, and 952 observations of 132 restaurant firms over the period 1993-2010. The study's results indicate a positive and significant effect of geographic diversification on firm performance in the US casino and lodging industry, but an insignificant effect of geographic diversification in the US restaurant industry. For the effect of product and brand diversification, the study's analyses show no significant effect of product diversification on firm performance in the US casino industry, a negative and significant effect of brand diversification in the US restaurant industry, and an insignificant effect of brand diversification in the US lodging industry. Regarding moderating effects, while this study finds an insignificant moderating effect of product diversification on the relationship between geographic diversification and firm performance in the US casino industry, the analyses show a negative and significant moderating effect of brand diversification in the US restaurant industry and a positive and significant moderating effect of brand diversification in the US lodging industry. Findings of this study recommend more prudent decision-making for diversification strategies for US casino firms, brand concentration strategies for US restaurant firms, and acceleration of both geographic and brand diversification for US lodging industry. This study fills a research gap in the hospitality literature by exhaustively examining the effect of diversification strategies on firm performance in the hospitality field by providing evidence for the moderating effects of product and brand diversification on the geographic diversification-firm performance relationship in three US hospitality industries. Further, this study enriches the whole body of diversification theory and literature by providing context-specific empirical findings for diversification's effects and investing the moderating role of brand diversification in the diversification strategy context. / Tourism and Sport

企業為擴大市場版圖分散營運風險，進行對外投資已經成為必要的趨勢；面對日新月益的市場需求，向海外擴張的同時，紛紛開始發展新產品與新市場以提高利潤。臺灣屬於島嶼地形環境，資源及內需市場有限，因此為了因應競爭激烈的市場環境，產品多元化已成為企業追求成長重要的經營策略。本研究採用經濟部統計處2007年製造業對外投資的實況調查問卷資料，有效樣本計1770家，並依據對外投資與產品多元化的相關文獻，歸納為組織因素、投資因素、資源因素、策略因素、資金因素，並以probit model進行實證分析，探討影響海外投資廠商對國內產品多元化的決定因素。經本研究實證發現，就組織因素而言，「廠商規模」與「廠商行業」是影響海外投資廠商對國內產品多元化的重要因素；而投資因素中，「投資地區」、「投資擴充」及「投資動機」是重要的影響因素；資源因素之「技術來源」是重要因素；策略因素之「經營策略」為重要因素；就資金因素而言，「資本支出」及「獲利狀況」是影響海外投資廠商對國內產品多元化的重要因素。

Because of the growth in income per capita as a consequent to the growth of global economy, skin care and cosmetic products have changed from luxury items to daily essentials. Together with the human nature of pursuing attractive appearance, factors such as decrease in the level of average age of cosmetic consumers, the increase of frequency of using cosmetic products, strong demand for high end skin care products with medical effects, and government support in developing cosmetic manufacturing as a key industry, suggest that the cosmetic market still has a significant growth potential. In addition, the recent popularity of ¡§cosmo-ceutical products¡¨ is pushing a number of major local corporations to enter the cosmetic market with biotech innovations. Because of the ease of transforming from chemical-related product manufacturing to cosmetic manufacturing, the local cosmetic industry is now saturated by small to medium-sized manufacturers. However, the local manufacturers are faced with the challenges of lack of GMP related legislation system for the cosmetics industry, shortage of financial resources, insignificant company size, and local R&D still awaits effective improvement. Therefore, it impossible for local companies to compete with the international cosmetics corporate giants. This paper will discuss the example of Taiwan Salt¡¦s successful transformation to a cosmetics manufacturer with collagen products. The example will be followed by analysis on the cosmetics industry in Taiwan and the competitiveness of global cosmetics companies such as P&G, L¡¦Oreal, Estee Lauder, and Shiseido. Selected companies will be analyzed for comparing their operational strategies. The findings will be further elaborated into the discussion of the current condition and demands in the local market of skin care product with whitening effect. The research suggested that the companies under study attempt to increase their competitiveness through product diversification and a focused operational strategy. Taiwan Salt for example started with specialized salt-related skin care products, and later on diversified the product lines to include collagen-related products. On the other hand, S-company capitalized on the unique demand for whitening products in the Asian market by orienting the product innovations with whitening and freckle-control effects. The company is faced with major threats of potential leak of production knowledge and counterfeit products. Due to the significant reduction of tariff, imported cosmetics from Europe and North America are increasing popular in the local market. Under the joint impact of decreased effectiveness of the traditional distribution channels, and change in consumer preference, brand diversification and distribution through multiple channels will be the future trends for survival. To succeed in the cosmetics industry, local companies must be dedicated to establishing new brands and promoting the brand recognition, and innovating new formula (i.e. skin care products with Chinese herbal medicine and natural herbal essences). In turn, to constitute a constructive persuasion for profitability in this industry, government would have to establish a GMP legislation system specialized for cosmetics manufacturing to improve the competitiveness of the local companies.

We study an empirical analysis of financial characteristics for product diversification and internationalization of degree of corporate in the Taiwan listing comapny. This is paper evaluation multinational and product diversification performance from four aspect that included return, capital structure, company value and system risk. The empirical conculsion found (1).High degree of international company will be have high return of sales,company value and system risk. (2).In debt ratio negatived with high degree of international and product diversification.(3).Company established year positived to connec ompany value and system risk. (4). Company size positived relation with return, capital structure, company value and system risk.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The study aimed to identify the supply chain of APROCCIMA meat, the brand as well as to identify the perceptions of quality in the chain of production and consumer behavior with respect to the product. This meat brand is organized to work in the form of alliance marketing with certification of origin. The research method involved three distinct stages: 1 - through interviews with coordinators of the alliance, the four officers involved were identified in the production chain: producers, processing agro-industry, retailers and consumer market; 2 - application of structured questionnaires to the three first links with common questions that aimed to identify perceptions of quality between these agents. In the second part of the questionnaire there were questions surrounding the characterization of alliance marketing, for descriptive purposes of identification of the SWOT matrix; 3 - consumer acceptance test, made by meat samples distributed to potential consumers of these products, directly in the points identified in the analysis of the production chain. The characterization of the supply chain has followed a consistent conceptual approach to the systemic understanding of its structure and functioning. As results of this study are to characterize the production chain and consumer behavior in relation to the product, identification of strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats of alliance marketing, study the acceptance of potential customers and identifying new markets for the product APROCCIMA meat. The production chain is characterized by thirteen producers, agribusiness and only four retail outlets that sell in two cities. The two most cited strengths were management alliance and product quality and weaknesses were low individual and full-scale production and production costs. The greatest opportunities identified were technological innovation and training of the workforce and greater threats were large companies in general meat trade and the lack of rural labor in the region. / O trabalho teve como objetivo identificar a cadeia produtiva de carne bovina da marca APROCCIMA, bem como identificar as percepções de qualidade na cadeia de produção e o comportamento do consumidor com relação ao produto. Essa marca de carne está organizada para trabalhar na forma de aliança mercadológica com certificação de origem. O método de pesquisa envolveu três momentos distintos: 1 por meio de entrevista aos coordenadores da aliança, foram identificados os quatro agentes envolvidos na cadeia de produção: produtores, agroindústria de processamento, varejistas e mercado consumidor; 2 aplicação de questionários estruturados aos três primeiros elos, com perguntas comuns que visaram identificar as percepções de qualidade entre esses agentes. Na segunda parte dos questionários existiram perguntas que envolveram a caracterização da aliança mercadológica, com objetivos descritivos de identificação da matriz SWOT; 3 teste de aceitabilidade dos consumidores, feito por meio de amostras de carne distribuídas aos potenciais consumidores desses produtos, diretamente nos pontos identificados na análise da cadeia de produção. A caracterização da cadeia produtiva seguiu uma abordagem conceitual coerente com a compreensão sistêmica de sua estrutura e funcionamento. Como resultados do presente trabalho estão à caracterização de toda a cadeia produtiva bem como o comportamento do consumidor em relação ao produto, a identificação dos pontos fortes e fracos, oportunidades e ameaças da aliança mercadológica, estudo da aceitação de potenciais consumidores e identificação de novos mercados para o produto carne bovina APROCCIMA. A cadeia de produção está caracterizada por treze produtores, uma agroindústria e apenas quatro mercados varejistas que comercializam em duas cidades. Os dois pontos fortes mais citados foram gestão da aliança e qualidade do produto e os pontos fracos foram baixa escala de produção individual e total e custos de produção. As maiores oportunidades apontadas foram inovação tecnológica e treinamento da mão de obra e as maiores ameaças foram grandes empresas do comércio de carnes em geral e a falta de mão de obra rural na região.

廠商國際化與產品多角化程度對績效的影響有其重要性，然而過去的研究多著重於已開發國家，並針對大型多國籍企業之整體績效進行探討。本研究以經濟部統計處所進行的中華民國89年與91年製造業對外投資實況調查為樣本，分別由母公司與子公司角度著眼，探討國際化與產品多角化程度對台灣製造廠商於大陸投資之子公司以及台灣母公司本身績效之影響。 實證結果顯示：子公司之資源對其國際化和產品多角化程度均有正向影響，而國際化與產品多角化對於子公司績效亦分別具正向影響；母公司資源與國際化程度、水平相關的產品多角化程度均具有正向關係，而水平相關的產品多角化程度對於母公司績效亦存在正向影響。亦即，無論由母公司和子公司的角度切入，資源多寡有助於企業從事進一步的國際化和產品多角化策略，而藉由上述兩種成長策略之採行，對於公司的績效亦有提昇之效。惟母公司資源於89年資料分析中，對國際化程度呈現負向影響；而母公司國際化程度對績效也顯示為負向關係，本文研判原因應為實務界的運作中，國際化程度越高的企業越具有操弄績效的便利性，而國際化的指標選擇受限於次級資料之問卷設計，均對上述模型之統計結果有所誤導，相關探討請詳見本論文。此外，針對國際化與產品多角化影響績效之交互效果的分析顯示，產品多角化對於國際化與績效間正向關係的干擾效果不顯著，亦即廠商進行產品多角化策略對於國際化和績效間的正向效果無顯著助益。 / There seems to be a paucity of research regarding the interrelationships among internationalization, product diversification and performance, especially on the level of subsidiary. Additionally, past studies mostly described the results of firms from DCs. This research is designed to fill these voids. Based on literature on international business and strategic management, this study examines the relationships of performance with internationalization, product diversification and their interaction on Taiwanese manufacturing firms in 1999 and 2001. The data were from the “Survey of Foreign Direct Investment by Taiwanese Manufacturing Firms” conducted by the Statistics Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, R.O.C., annually. The empirical results showed that：(1) A Taiwanese firm with more than 200 employees tends to engage in internationalization more likely, and is able to exercise higher degree of corporate horizontally related international product diversification (2) A Taiwanese firm with more than 200 employees outperforms those with fewer employees. (3) Subsidiaries with more than 200 employees tend to have more internationalization and product diversification activities, and tend to outperform those with fewer employees. (4) Internationalization and product diversification at the subsidiary level are positively related to subsidiary performance. (5) Horizontally related international product diversification at the corporate level is positively related to corporate performance. However, the results did not show that internationalization at the corporate level is positively related to corporate performance. Besides, it did not support that product diversifications at both the corporate and subsidiary levels contribute significantly to the relationship between internationalization and performance. In other words, one type of growth strategy (i.e., product diversification) does not significantly change the relationship between another type of growth strategy (i.e., internationalization) and performance.