Corporate restructuring during the 1980s is argued to have focused on improving firm performance by increasing related and decreasing unrelated diversification. The restructuring patterns of top food manufacturing firms do not support this; instead, much of the restructuring appears to have been...

This paper reviews theories that identify motives for mergers, reviews recent empirical research, specifies a model that incorporates alternative motives, and tests the model with data from food manufacturing mergers between 1979 and 1986. Results suggest that capital markets are not efficient,...

An analysis of the impact of buyer structure on the profitability of U.S. food manufacturing industries shows inconclusive evidence in support of the countervailing power hypothesis in these industries. However, findings show that industries that have high sales to other food manufacturing...

Empirical studies of firm diversification suggest the existence of a positive relationship between the relatedness of diversification and firm performance. Using evidence from the food manufacturing sector, we find that this relationship is weak at best and that market share appears to be a more...

A growing body of empirical studies have been interpreted as support for a laissez-faire policy towards mergers. These "event studies" examine the reaction of stock market prices of firms that announce an agreement to merge. The type ~f reaction reveals whether a merger is motivated by a desire...

This paper extends the conjectural approach in industrial organization to the analysis of imperfections in output and factor markets simultaneously. Starting from the specification of a production function, the econometric analysis is based on the formulation and estimation of a simultaneous...