As an increasing number of large corporations branch out into many fields of industry, public concern over the lateral extension of their power is aroused. Arguing that entry by large firms into concentrated industries may instead stimulate competition, Charles H. Berry analyzes the effect that such diversification has on corporate growth and on the structure and functioning of industrial markets. To identify a relationship between the growth of large corporations and the pattern of their diversifying activities, Professor Berry examines 460 of the largest U.S. industrial corporations. In tracing the effects of their entry into some 200 manufacturing industries, he develops new and striking evidence of the protected position of leading firms in concentrated industries, a position that can be effectively undermined by the diversification of more powerful corporations into these industries. Originally published in 1975. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Are your core corporate growth opportunities limited? Do you seek new avenues for expansion? Is the timing opportune to consider such a quest? If you are the owner or executive of a small to mid-sized manufacturing or service company then this book is a must-read. The text includes a broad range of diversification options supported by numerous practical examples of companies of all sizes that have embarked on a strategy involving diversification. It lists the many and various types of diversification - vertical, horizontal, and tangential - available for growth and explains how they might be identified, evaluated, and effectively pursued. Opportunities and risks of each of the categories are addressed as well.

Author is an alumnus of Evanston Township High School, class of 1940.