U NFORTUNATELY, economic theory and existing empirical evidence provide little insight into the effects of diversification on industry performance. This is partially due to the fact that most previous empirical studies of diversification have been concerned with tabulating the extent of,1 or motives for,2 diversification. In order for the antiitrust authorities to develop a rational policy toward conglomerate mergers, it will be necessary to determine the competitive consequences of diversification. This study attempts to provide some empirical evidence on the effects of diversification by examining the relationship between industry price-cost margins and diversification.3 Specifically, the study examines the general proposition that diversification is an element of industry structure and the more narrow hypothesis that diversification raises barriers to entry into an industry. The study is based on a sample of 241 four-digit manufacturing industries from the 1963 Census of Manufactures. The primary testing technique is multivariate regression analysis. Results of the analysis provide tentative support for the proposition 'that diversification has a systematic influence on price-cost margins which may be attributable to certain barriers to entry.

The Effect of Diversification on Industry Profit Performance in 241 Manufacturing Industries: 1963

Professor Chandler uses data compiled by two of his students, Harold C. Livesay and P. Glenn Porter, whose work is condensed in the charts and tables which accompany this article, to propose a historical explanation for the changing industrial structure of the modem American economy.

The Structure of American Industry in the Twentieth Century: A Historical Overview

Alfred Chandler's recent passing is cause to review and celebrate his many contributions to business history. It also presents an opportunity to highlight links between his rich historical analyses concerning organizational and industrial innovation and contemporary management studies of the firm and industrial organization. We illustrate this point by applying transaction costs theory to several case studies from his 1977 masterwork narrating the emergence of vertically-integrated firms in nineteenth-century America, The Visible Hand. Vertical integration, organizational control, and innovation in manufacturing at McCormick Harvester and Singer Sewing Machines, and in transportation and distribution at Swift and United Fruit reflect managerial responses to classic transaction costs considerations including commercial relationships requiring the creation of specialized equipment and knowledge. Transaction costs analysis provides complementary historical insight on organizational innovation at these and other firms in the nineteenth century, and suggests when and where we might expect vertical integration strategies in emerging industries of the twenty-first century.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/joms_927.pdf?abstractid=1608082&mirid=3

Chandler's Living History: The Visible Hand of Vertical Integration in Nineteenth Century America Viewed Under a Twenty‐First Century Transaction Costs Economics Lens

Institute of Governmental Studies

Logistic activity, in particular transportation, produces green house gases (GHG). For different purposes GHG need to be allocated to objects. This paper studies how to allocate the GHG volume of a transportation process (delivery tour) to the single shipments moved by the process. First, it identifies classes of generic allocation schemes and presents 15 allocation methods. Second, since the majority of these methods has not been designed for allocating GHG, we apply and compare them in the short distance transport context within a numerical example. The aim is to study how the schemes perform according to criteria. We suggest using causality, efficiency, empty core robustness, symmetry, individual rationality, coalition stability, ease of application, and set robustness as appraisal criteria and attempt to mainstream the discussion by recommending selected allocation methods.

David L. Wing

Papers

The Integration of Industrial Operation.