Conglomerate

A conglomerate is a corporation composed of businesses operating in multiple, often unrelated, industries. It may coordinate those businesses under common ownership and management.

Corporate diversification: A corporate strategy of expanding into multiple products, markets, or industries. Conglomerates are organizational forms built around diversification across industries.
Conglomerate merger: A merger between firms whose businesses operate in unrelated industries. This transaction directly creates a corporation spanning unrelated industries.
Holding company: A company that owns controlling interests in other companies, often without directly producing their goods or services. A holding company describes an ownership structure, while conglomerate emphasizes a diversified group of businesses.
Diversification discount: The reduction in market value sometimes observed when a diversified company is worth less than the sum of its parts. Investors may value a conglomerate below the estimated standalone value of its divisions.
Internal capital market: A system in which a company allocates funds among its own divisions rather than relying only on external investors. Headquarters can redirect cash from mature divisions to businesses needing investment.
Conglomerate boom: A mid-twentieth-century wave of acquisitions that formed diversified corporations, especially in the United States. The boom made conglomerates a prominent corporate form during the 1960s.
Business group: A collection of legally separate firms linked through ownership, control, or enduring business relationships. Business groups may coordinate independent firms without combining them into one corporation.
Economies of scope: Cost savings or added value that result when one organization produces or sells multiple related outputs. Shared resources can make a multi-business corporation more efficient than separate firms.
Corporate headquarters: The central organization responsible for coordinating and overseeing a corporation's operations. Headquarters sets strategy and allocates resources across a conglomerate's businesses.
Management theory: The study and practice of organizing people and resources to achieve organizational goals. Ideas about professional management helped justify overseeing diverse businesses through central leadership.

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