Antecedents and Outcomes of Corporate Refocusing

Abstract

During the 1980s a large number of firms refocused or down-scoped using multiple divestitures. This paper reviews recent empirical research (1983-1996) to isolate and identify the antecedent conditions that lead to downscoping and its outcomes. Antecedent conditions include changing environmental conditions, firm governance, ineffective strategy, poor performance, and financial restructuring. Outcomes of the process examine how firm strategy has changed and its effect on employees and firm performance. I develop a model to classify research into topic areas and discuss future research directions and related issues.