|jL|ti|;¿«s, Departmentynl,«istates. of ^^ PrOClUCt Agriculture Economic Research Service ai- Diversification Trends Agricultural Economic Report in U.S. Food Number 521 i' [\/lanufacturing James M. MacDonald xy '.M>> Additional copies. • • of this report can be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. Ask for Product Diver- sification Trends in U.S. Food Manufacturing (AER-521). Write to the above address for price and ordering instructions. For faster service, call the GPO order desk at (202) 783-3238 and charge your purchase to your VISA, Master- Card, or GPO deposit account, A 25-percent bulk discount is available on orders of 100 or more copies shipped to a single address. Add 25 percent for postage for foreign orders. Microfiche copies ($4.50 each) can be purchased from the Identification Sec- tion, National Technical Information Service, 5285 Port Royal Road, Spring- field, VA 22161, Ask for Product Diversification Trends in U.S. Food Manufac- turing (AER-521). Enclose check or money order payable to NTIS. For faster service, call NTIS at (703) 487-4780 and charge your purchase to your VISA, MasterCard, American Express, or NTIS deposit account. The Economic Research Service has no copies for free mailing. Product Diversification Trends in U.S. Food Manufacturing. By James M. MacDonald. National Economics Division, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Economic Report No. 521. Abstract Leading U.S. food manufacturers typically produce and sell a growing array of food products. Many have also expanded into related wholesale, transporta- tion, and food service industries, while avoiding large-scale involvement in agriculture and food retailing. Diversification by food manufacturers into unrelated product lines declined in the seventies. That decline, coupled with continued increases in diversification into food-related products, led to stabi- lization in average levels of diversification, after persistent increases since 1919. Successful diversification frequently depends on how readily employees' skills can be transferred to new products. Much recent diversification in the food industries has been based upon the transfer of marketing skills among consumer product industries and technical skills in commodity processing and transportation among producer goods industries. Keywords: Diversification, food manufacturing, mergers, conglomerates. Reference to commercial firms or brand names in this publication is for iden- tification only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Washington, DC 20250 March 1985 Contents Page Summary ....... ..............iil Introduction 1 A Frameworlifor AnahrzingDivenMcation 2 Diversification^Importânt Theoretical Issues 2 Specific Sources of Diversification 3 The Incentive to Diversify 4 Data Sources and Measures of Dhrewification ... ^ 5 Sources of Diversification Data. 5 Measures of Diversification 6 Current Directions of Diversification ................. 7 Levels of Diversification, 1975. ..... 8 Diversification Within Food Manufacturing 9 Diversification Into Other Manufacturing Industries 14 Diversification Outside of Manufacturing 16 Trends in Dfoersiflcatíon, 195^77..,....,.. 20 Levels of Diversification, 1950. 21 Marketing as a Basis for Diversification .... 22 Industrial Directions of 1950 Nonfood Dwersification ............. 22 Diversification Outside of Manufacturing 23 Changesin Diversification Since 1950 23 A Break in the Trend 24 Influence of Conglomerate Entry 25 Conglomerate Divestitures .........,.........*.................. 26 Small Firm Diversification 27 Early Diversification in Food Mannfaclitring, 1919-50 28 Characterístícs of Diversification in 1919 . ^.., 28 The Trend of Food Manufacturer Diversification, 1919-50 29 implications 30 Bibliograpliy 32 Appendix A: Organizational Changes Among Leading Food Manufacturers, 1975-84 34 Appendix B: Food Processing Industries 42 Summary Leading U.S. food manufacturers typically sell an increasingly large number of different food products. Many have also expanded into related wholesale, transportation, and food service industries, while avoiding large-scale involve- ment in agriculture and food retailing. Unrelated diversification outside of food industries by food manufacturers declined in the seventies. After persistent in- creases since 1919, that decline, coupled with continued increases in diver- sification into food-related products, led to stabilization in average levels of diversification. Successful diversification frequently depends on how readily employees' skills can be transferred to new products. Much recent diversifica- tion in the food industries has been based upon the transfer of marketing skills among consumer product industries and technical skills in commodity proc- essing and transportation among producer goods industries. Product diversification refers to the variety of products that a company sells; a firm diversifies its product mix whenever it begins to manufacture the products of an industry different from those in which it is already engaged. This report discusses product diversification among firms in the food manufacturing in- dustries. Some trends are highlighted below. • Average levels of diversification among leading food manufacturers in- creased continually between 1919 and 1972. The firms diversified into other food industries, into related wholesale and food service in- dustries, and into a broad array of nonfood industries. • Midsized regional food manufacturers, with between 400 and 2,000 employees, are typically diversified among a few food processing and wholesaling industries, and average levels of diversification among these firms also ro$e until 1972. • Between 1972 and 1977, the extent of diversification stabilized, on average, among all size classes of food manufacturers. Since 1977, in- creased merger activity suggests some continued diversification among leading firms, but a corresponding increase in divestitures suggests a movement away from investment in industries unrelated to food. • Conglomerate diversification into the food industries peaked in the late sixties and declined in the late seventies and early eighties. • Successful diversification is often based on the transfer of the firm's existing skills in marketing, production, or management. Since 1950, diversification based on the transfer of marketing skills has become much more important. ill Product Diversification Trends in V.S. Food Manufacturing James M. MacDonald' Introduetion A firm diversifies whenever it begins to manufacture that question, of how diversified firms perform as the products of an industry different from those in resource allocators relative to markets, is of great in- which it is already engaged. Although diversification terest to economists, whose research often centers on can have major consequences for diversifying firms, the operation of markets. The issue also interests their competitors« and consumers, lack of data has State and Federal policymakers because proposed restricted close study of the phenomenon. legislation, such as that concerned with conglom- erate mergers, plant closings, and industrial policy, is This report presents an analysis of product diver- often based on criticisms of the performance of diver- sification among firms in the food manufacturing in- sified firms in the allocation of resources. dustries. I define industries at the four-digit level of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) System, Finally, diversifiers can directly affect innovation in as developed over a period of years by experts on an industry, including the introduction of new prod- classification in Government and private industry ucts and new production processes. Diversified firms under the guidance of the U.S. Department of Com- finance a large share of organized private research merce [36y I describe the current extent of the and development, often acquire innovative and rapidly phenomenon and its growth over time, and explore growing small firms, and introduce a major share of the impact of extensive diversification on firms, their new food products each year. To the extent that di- competitors, and consumers. versifying firms affect the flow of innovations to the economy, diversification will have further indirect in- For the firm, diversification can provide a means to fiiences on the growth of productivity and incomes. grow or to increase profits through a shift of re- sources out of slow-growth, low-profit industries into The report's aim is to supply a broad, descriptive industries with higher growth and profits. Diversifica- perspective, to provide the reader with the principal tion may also lead to more intensive use of existing characteristics of diversification in the food indus- resources; for example, the firm may diversify in tries, including incidence, extent, trend over time, order to further process the byproducts of a manufac- and industrial directions, with some inferences made turing operation or to provide expanded opportunities to sources and effects. for underutilized younger managers. Product diversification should be kept distinct from Firms that diversify reallocate capital, labor, and other ways in which a company may be diversified. materials from one particular industry, and often For example, a firm may diversify geographically by from a particular region, to another. In doing so, the expanding into a new region or a new country without