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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of export composition (diversification or specialization) on economic growth of South Asian countries, while export diversification is further categorized into horizontal and vertical export diversification.

The study uses Cobb-Douglas production function, in which export is augmented in the production function. To analyze the non-linear relationship (inverted U- or U-shape) with economic growth, square term of exports Herfindahl index, horizontal, and vertical export diversification are introduced in the model. Panel data of four countries of South Asia, i.e. Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka is utilized from 1990 to 2013 at annual frequency under fixed effect model.

Exports Herfindahl index represented inverted U-shape relationship with economic growth. An increase in export diversification lead to higher economic growth initially, however, after the threshold level, export specialization have positive impact on economic growth. Horizontal export diversification is not beneficial for economic growth initially, however, after the threshold level, introducing new sector increases economic growth in South Asian countries. Vertical export diversification has insignificant and U-shaped relationship with economic growth.

Education and skill formation are essential components for creativity and innovation, therefore attention must be paid toward labor training and education. Government must encourage the exporters to increase diversification in their export portfolio as well as provide incentives and technical assistance for research and development in the manufacturing sector.

This study contributes by analyzing the non-linear relationship between export composition, i.e. diversification (horizontal and vertical) or specialization and economic growth in South Asian countries. The study is useful to boost the potential level of exports on sustainable economic growth of South Asian countries. This study provides the essential evidence, information and better understanding to key stakeholders of exports.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of economic complexity on services export diversification. This study has been built on two arguments. The first one draws from Eichengreen and Gupta (2013b) and states that countries that export complex products would have a high penetration in the international goods market and establish a network that could be exploited to expand their range of services export items. Second, by inducing higher inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI), greater economic complexity could contribute to fostering services export diversification.

The empirical analysis uses a panel data set of 109 countries (both developed and developing countries) over the period of 1985–2014, and in particular, non-overlapping sub-periods of five-year average data. Building on the two-step system Generalized Method of Moments, the empirical analysis has provided support for the above-mentioned two theoretical hypotheses.

The findings indicate that greater economic complexity has been associated with a higher level of services export diversification, and the magnitude of this positive effect is higher for high-income countries than for developing countries. Furthermore, the share of FDI inflows (in percentage of gross domestic product) matters for the effect of economic complexity on services export diversification. Specially, economic complexity exerts a higher positive effect on services export diversification, as the share of net FDI inflows in gross domestic product increases.

From a policy perspective, the analysis complements previous works on the effects of economic complexity (e.g. on economic growth, income inequality, poverty, etc.), by showing that economic complexity also matters for fostering the diversification of countries' services export items. Enhancing economic complexity should be at the heart of policymakers' agenda, both at the national and international levels, given its strong positive effect on macroeconomic aggregates, including on services export diversification, the latter being also an important engine for economic growth (Anand et al., 2012; Gnangnon, 2021a; Mishra et al., 2011; Stojkoski et al., 2016).

This study opens an avenue for future research on whether services export diversification influences economic complexity. One avenue for future research could also be to explore the effect of comparative advantage on goods and services (using the Balassa's revealed comparative advantage index) on services export diversification. Future works could also examine how economic complexity affects different categories of services sectors, including traditional services and modern services.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to address this topic in the literature.

This chapter investigates the relative magnitude of the benefits of global diversification from the viewpoint of domestic investors in various countries by forming time-rolling efficient frontiers. To enhance feasibility of asset allocation strategies, the constraints of short-sales and over-weighting investments are taken into account. The empirical results suggest that local investors in less developed countries, particularly in Latin America, East Asia, and Southern Europe, comparatively benefit more from global diversification. Investors in the countries of civic-law origin tend to benefit more from global investment than the ones in the common-law states. Although the global market has become more integrated over the past decades, diversification benefits for domestic investors declined but did not vanish. The results of this chapter are useful for asset management professionals to determine target markets to promote the sales of international funds.

The authors meta-analyze research on the diversification–performance relationship to empirically establish the impact of home-country formal institutional quality on this relationship. Prior research assumes that a country’s formal institutional quality negatively affects the diversification–performance relationship, especially when it involves unrelated diversification. However, empirical evidence for these propositions is inconclusive because existing studies consider blocks of countries with limited institutional heterogeneity. To provide more clarity, this study aims to consider the diversification–performance relationship across developed, emerging and developing countries.

The meta-analysis relies on a sample of 293 effect sizes of the diversification–performance relationship from 76 primary studies across 15 countries between 1988 and 2019. The sample excludes effects sizes from papers that consider both product and international diversification to control for complex interactions between the strategies, as well as papers that did not consider both related and unrelated diversification.

The results confirm that stronger home-country formal institutions weaken the diversification–performance relationship by decreasing the relative efficiency of internal markets versus external ones. Further, the effect is less negative for related diversification because this strategy can better exploit market frictions in countries with stronger formal institutions and more efficient external markets than its unrelated counterpart.

The study contributes to the literatures on the diversification–performance relationship and home-country governance by providing robust evidence for how formal institutional quality impacts the efficacy of related and unrelated diversification.

Previous work in international business largely disregards the interplay between home-country conditions and firms’ geographical diversification – implying that, regardless of indigenous conditions, firms can modify their domestic performance (which the authors measure in terms of change in firms’ domestic productivity) merely by diversifying into international markets. The authors contest this view and argue that diversification does not substitute for home-country conditions. Rather, it moderates the baseline impact of home-country conditions on indigenous firms’ domestic performance. The purpose of this study is to describe these mechanisms and empirically examine their implications for indigenous firms’ performance.

The authors investigate the above model based on a 20-year longitudinal analysis of 600 observations involving telecommunication incumbents from 65 countries. They control for possible reverse causality between firms’ international diversification (and other firm-specific factors) and their domestic performance, and conduct several robustness checks.

The authors find – as hypothesized – that international diversification moderates the baseline performance impact of different home-country attributes in different ways. Such diversification does not have a uniform moderating effect on home-country attributes. In other words, the baseline effects of home-country conditions are altered as indigenous firms become more internationalized.

Theoretically, this work bridges the micro- and macro-level arguments that interweave strands from the competitive strategy and national competitive advantage literatures. By unpacking diversification’s role vis-à-vis the effect of upstream (home-country) conditions on firm performance, the authors attempt to shed light on the mechanisms that help (or hinder) indigenous firms’ performance. Empirically, this study helps to reconcile seemingly opposite views about whether and, if so, how much home-country conditions shape indigenous firms’ expansion after they have diversified internationally.

The purpose of this study is to gain new insight into the true nature of the relationship between product diversification and performance, as well as to explore the roles the home country environment and time can play on this relationship.

The study reviews a large part of the research that has addressed the relationship between product diversification and performance over the last four decades.

This study identifies the main views (models) that can help scholars to adequately understand, both theoretically and empirically, the potential effect of product diversification on performance: the premium diversification model; the discount diversification model; and the U‐inverted model. The study confirms a wide diversity of results. Drawing from the institutional‐based view, it is argued that a significant part of this heterogeneity stems from the effect of two factors that have often been ignored: the home country environment and time period. The review of recent empirical research seems to provide some support for the central argument that the value firms achieve through product diversification may be contingent both on the specific home country environment (environmental dependency) and time period (time dependency) under study.

This study yields an alternative explanation to the inconsistency in findings that goes beyond strictly theoretical and methodological reasons. It shows that the arguments related to different views (or models) need to be considered “environment‐dependent” and “time‐dependent”. It concludes by proposing a framework to guide future research.

In this study, the authors argue that there is more than meets the eye on the effects over postacquisition performance and diversification. This study aims to propose that the conditions that allow higher returns are dependent on the institutional context. The authors suggest that diversification strategies differ in their impact on postacquisition performance when moderated by the institutional inefficiencies of economies.

This research is based on a quantitative approach. The authors statistically test the hypotheses based on multiple regression analysis.

Results show a negative moderating effect of the institutional inefficiencies of the target country on the relationship between the diversification decisions of the firm and its postacquisition performance. So that Latin American firms that perform Cross-border acquisitions with higher degrees of diversification are related to worse performance. However, the degree of institutional inefficiencies negatively moderates this relation, attenuating the negative effects of diversification over performance.

Although past research has shown that economies with high institutional inefficiencies can benefit from higher levels of diversification, no study has considered the impact of the institutional inefficiencies when discussing many economies, to authors’ acknowledgment. The authors provide evidence that, in the case of Latin American firms, diversification reduces performance; however, the degree of institutional inefficiencies negatively moderates this relation.

Neste estudo, argumentamos que há mais do que aparenta sobre os efeitos sobre o desempenho e a diversificação pós-aquisição. Propomos que as condições que permitem maiores retornos dependem do contexto institucional. Sugerimos que as estratégias de diversificação diferem em seu impacto no desempenho pós-aquisição quando moderadas pelas ineficiências institucionais dos países.

Esta pesquisa é baseada em uma abordagem quantitativa. Testamos estatisticamente as hipóteses com base na análise de regressão múltipla.

Os resultados mostram um efeito moderador negativo das ineficiências institucionais do país-alvo na relação entre as decisões de diversificação da empresa e seu desempenho pós-aquisição. Assim, firmas latino-americanas que realizam F&As com maior grau de diversificação estão relacionadas a pior desempenho. No entanto, o grau de ineficiências institucionais modera negativamente essa relação, atenuando os efeitos negativos da diversificação sobre o desempenho.

Embora pesquisas anteriores tenham mostrado que economias com altas ineficiências institucionais podem se beneficiar de níveis mais altos de diversificação, nenhum estudo considerou o impacto das ineficiências institucionais ao discutir diversos países. Fornecemos evidências de que, no caso das empresas latino-americanas, a diversificação reduz o desempenho, porém, o grau de ineficiências institucionais modera negativamente essa relação.

En este estudio, argumentamos que hay más en los efectos sobre el desempeño posterior a la adquisición y la diversificación de lo que parece. Proponemos que las condiciones que permiten mayores rendimientos dependen del contexto institucional. Sugerimos que las estrategias de diversificación difieren en su impacto sobre el desempeño posterior a la adquisición cuando se ven atenuadas por las ineficiencias institucionales del país.

Esta investigación se basa en un enfoque cuantitativo. Probamos estadísticamente las hipótesis con base en análisis de regresión múltiple.

Los resultados muestran un efecto moderador negativo de las ineficiencias institucionales en el país objetivo sobre la relación entre las decisiones de diversificación de una empresa y su desempeño posterior a la adquisición. Así, las firmas latinoamericanas que realizan M&A con un mayor grado de diversificación se relacionan con un peor desempeño. Sin embargo, el grado de ineficiencias institucionales modera negativamente esta relación, atenuando los efectos negativos de la diversificación sobre el desempeño.

Investigaciones anteriores han demostrado que las economías con altas ineficiencias institucionales pueden beneficiarse de niveles más altos de diversificación, ningún estudio ha considerado el impacto de las ineficiencias institucionales cuando se analiza de varios países. Proporcionamos evidencia de que, en el caso de las empresas latinoamericanas, la diversificación reduce el desempeño, pero el grado de ineficiencias institucionales modera negativamente esta relación.

This study investigates the effect of multilateral trade liberalization on services export diversification with a view to complementing the recently published work on the effect of multilateral trade liberalization on export product diversification.

The empirical exercise been performed using a panel dataset of 133 countries over the period 1995–2014.

The findings show that multilateral trade liberalization is associated with greater services export diversification in both developed and developing countries alike. This is particularly the case in countries with a high reliance on manufactured goods exports or those that enjoy greater export product diversification. Interestingly, multilateral trade liberalization enhances services export diversification in countries that experience higher foreign direct investment inflows.

These findings highlight the importance of multilateral trade liberalization for services export diversification. The study has considered explicitly supply-side factors that could affect services export diversification. This is because the indicator of multilateral trade liberalization is highly correlated with some demand-side factors, such as the world demand for services exports. Therefore, another avenue for future research could involve looking at the demand side factors that could influence services export diversification, and whether the degree of multilateral trade liberalization matters for the influence of these demand factors on services export diversification.

The current study through its positive effect on both export product diversification and services export diversification, greater cooperation among World Trade Organization (WTO) Members on trade matters could help revive economic growth, particularly in the current COVID-19 pandemic that has significantly plummeted it.

To the best of our knowledge, this is first study that has investigated this issue.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze corporate scope decisions in acquisitions with a focus on the relationship between target country unfamiliarity and acquirer-to-target relatedness and on the moderating effects played by product diversification and international experience.

Using a dataset of 689 acquisitions completed in the period 2007-2013 by acquirers located in 60 countries, this paper utilizes an ordered logistic regression analysis.

With greater target country unfamiliarity, acquirers are encouraged to pursue greater acquirer-to-target relatedness. This finding suggests that acquirers tend to seek a balance between product and international diversification to reduce the sources of uncertainty in their acquisition moves. While past international experience strengthens this relationship, diversification experience has a negative moderating effect and hence encourages acquirers to reduce relatedness at increasing market unfamiliarity.

The originality of this paper is twofold. First, the authors extend the traditional internationalization-diversification framework to an unfamiliarity-relatedness relationship in the context of acquisitions. Second, the authors propose a construct of target country unfamiliarity in acquisitions that goes beyond the traditional domestic vs cross-border dichotomy by including previous experience in the target country.

The paper aims to measure the nature and extent of international diversification followed by Indian companies over the period 2009–10 to 2017–18. The study also aims to assess the pattern of transition of companies to various strategies of international diversification.

Jacquemin and Berry’s (1979) entropy approach has been applied to measure the extent and assess the nature of international diversification. Further, the study deploys two-dimensional categorical framework advocated by Vachani (1991) and categorizes the firms into four international diversification strategies.

Larger proportion of companies in internationally low diversification (ILD) strategy reveals low extent of international diversification of Indian companies. The pattern of diversification depicts that the trend of moving forward is speeding up sequentially toward higher strategies of growth. Both the extent and pattern depict that the nature of diversification is shifting from relatedness to un-relatedness with transitions from intra-regions to inter-regions. The study confirms the applicability of eclectic theory and psychic distance Uppsala model in determining the preference of international diversification strategies and process of internationalization respectively in Indian firms.

The paper is first of its kind on account of several reasons. First, such a comprehensive evaluation of preferences for international diversification strategies has never been taken up with reference to emerging economies, especially India. Second, the paper is not static and does not limit itself only to the identification of favored strategies of Indian companies but also gauges the transitional behavior of Indian companies across different strategies at different points of time. In fact it is the first study to statistically research the applicability of psychic distance model in firms in emerging economy. Third, the results not only measure the quantum of international diversification but also assess the extent of relatedness and un-relatedness followed by Indian companies.