Diversification and the management of diversity has been one of the most popular and durable research topic in the field of strategic management. Readers interested in a broad review of this literature can find one in HillC.W.L.HoskissonR.E., “Strategy and Structure in the Multiproduct Firm”, Academy of Management Review, 2 (1987): 331–341. While much of the empirical work has used products or businesses as the key dimension of diversity, Rumelt'sR.R., Strategy, Structure and Economic Performance (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1974) remains as the seminal work in that line of inquiry. Geographic diversity has been a relatively recent interest in the field and readers interested in this aspect of management of diversity are recommended to read PrahaladC.K.DozY.L., The Multinational Mission (New York, NY: Free Press. 1987). For analyses of the types of controls appropriate for managing diversity, please refer to GovindarajanV., “A Contingency Approach to Strategy Implementation at the Business-Unit Level: Integrating Administrative Mechanisms with Strategy,”Academy of Management Journal, 31 (1988): 828–853, for a rigorous academic treatment and to GooldM.CampbellA., Strategies and Styles (London: Basil Blackwell, 1987) for a more managerial exposition.
2.
The tradeoffs between autonomy and synergy are richly described in LorschJ.AllenS., Managing Diversity and Interdependence, Division of Research, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA, 1973. For a nuanced analysis of this tradeoff in the context of multinational companies, see PrahaladDoz, op. cit.
3.
PetersWatermanR., In Search of Excellence (New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1982).
4.
For a comprehensive review of this tension between planning and adaptation and on its implications for organizational structure, see MintzbergH., Mintzberg on Management (New York, NY: Free Press, 1989).
5.
The model of GE's transformation is drawn from Jack Welch's presentation at the Harvard Business School in 1987. Readers can find greater details of the four-step process in TichyN.M.ShermanS., Control Your Destiny or Someone Else Will (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1993).
