A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF U. S. AND KOREAN FIRMS: CHANGES IN DIVERSIFICATION AND PERFORMANCE

This paper examines the relationship between international diversification and performance by matching a sample of 400 U.S. and 400 Korean firms on industry type and testing the relationship over five years (1992–1996). Results indicate that U.S. firms show a positive association with regard to international diversification and performance, but a negative relationship between product diversification and performance. Korean firms, however, show a positive association with both types of diversification. In addition, Korean firms' strategies were associated more with sales‐based measures, while U.S. firms were associated more closely with profit‐based measures. These results suggest that the two countries do not approach diversification in the same way.