Intra-Firm Linkages in Multi-Segment Firms: Evidence from the Japanese manufacturing sector

複数事業を行っている企業は数多くあるが、単なる事業の寄せ集めなのか、それとも互いに補完しあう関係なのか、本論文はこの問いに答えるべく分析を行った。　工業統計表の6桁分類の製品レベルのデータを用いて、各事業・各製品レベルで生産・出荷の成長率を計算した。分析の結果、企業内よりはむしろプラント・工場内での製品間で共変動がみられ、相関が大きかった。

Are diversified firms mere collections of independent assets, or is there anything that glues together different businesses? We explore this question by looking at segment level growth of multi-segment (i.e., producing in several 6-digit industries at the same time) manufacturing firms in Japan. We find substantial co-movement between such segments and show that it can be driven by plant-wide but not firm-wide shocks. Our findings suggest that inputs that are shared firm-wide, such as brand and organizational routines, are not too important for production.