Measuring and assessing international diversification strategies of Indian companies

Purpose - 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. Design/methodology/approach - 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. Findings - 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. Originality/value - 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.