Abstract The risk implications of product diversification have received considerable attention from scholars. However, our understanding of the effects of geographic diversification on risk is more limited. Relying on resource-based theory to frame our arguments, we argue that despite some similarities, the two types of diversification have differing effects on firm risk. We first establish the risk reducing effects for product diversification. We then integrate the unique aspects of geographic diversification that serve as a boundary condition to the RBV perspective, arguing for the risk increasing effects of geographic diversification. Finally, since many firms pursue both forms of diversification simultaneously, we explore the joint effects of both product and geographic diversification. We test our hypotheses in a longitudinal model on a sample of S&P 500 firms. Our findings suggest that total product diversification, as well as related diversification reduce risk, while total geographic diversification increases risk. Furthermore, our data provide evidence of a complex combination of joint effects of these two forms of diversification. These findings offer a more complete understanding of the risk effects of corporate diversification.

中文翻译：

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多元化的风险影响：整合产品和地域多元化的影响

摘要 产品多样化的风险含义受到了学者们的广泛关注。然而，我们对地域多样化对风险影响的理解更为有限。依靠基于资源的理论来构建我们的论点，我们认为尽管有一些相似之处，但这两种类型的多元化对公司风险有不同的影响。我们首先建立产品多样化的风险降低效果。然后，我们将作为边界条件的地理多样化的独特方面整合到 RBV 视角，论证了地理多样化的风险增加效应。最后，由于许多公司同时追求两种形式的多元化，我们探讨了产品多元化和地域多元化的联合效应。我们在标准普尔 500 指数公司样本的纵向模型中检验我们的假设。我们的研究结果表明，总体产品多元化以及相关多元化降低了风险，而总体地域多元化则增加了风险。此外，我们的数据提供了这两种多样化形式的联合效应的复杂组合的证据。这些发现提供了对企业多元化的风险影响的更完整的理解。