Resource-Based Theory and Corporate Diversification

Abstract

Corporate diversification, a major strategic management research topic, has been influenced significantly by resource-based theory. In this review, the authors make two main contributions to this literature. First, they discuss the historical development of corporate diversification research employing the resource-based theory perspective and related concepts, highlighting important insights to date. They then review this literature and discuss its main contributions. Second, the authors identify open issues and suggest opportunities for future contributions and describe ways that research on corporate diversification using the resource-based theory perspective could be further enriched by integration with theoretical insights culled from the organizational economics, new institutional economics, and industrial organization economics literatures.