Antecedents and outcomes of corporate refocusing

During the 1980s a large number of firms refocused or downscoped using multiple divestitures. This paper reviews recent empirical research (1983-1996) to isolate and identify the antecedent conditions that lead to downscoping and its outcomes. Antecedent conditions include changing environmental conditions, firm governance, ineffective strategy: poor performance, and financial restructuring. Outcomes of the process examine how firm strategy has changed and its effect on employees and firm performance. I develop a model to classify research into topic areas and discuss structure research directions and related issues.