Este trabalho investiga a coerência no processo de diversificação corporativa via fusões e aquisições (F&A), e analisa as razões pelas quais a firma tende, na maioria das vezes, a incorporar ao seu portfolio atividades relacionadas às já existentes. Com base na concepção "penrosiana" da firma, o trabalho argumenta que por intermédio das operações de F&A, a firma, embora tenha a opção de realizar um caminho conglomerado de diversificação, e em alguns casos isto ocorra, tende a imprimir uma diversificação não aleatória (coerente) em resposta a condicionantes internos definidos pela natureza específica de suas características produtivas e tecnológicas. O trabalho fornece suporte empírico para os argumentos apresentados através de um estudo cross-section baseado numa amostra de 106 empresas de origem norte-americana, líderes da indústria manufatureira, e as operações de F&A por elas desenvolvidas nos EUA no período 1990-1999.

This paper sheds light on the coherent nature of the diversification process of firms through mergers and acquisitions, and analyses the reasons why firms tend to include related activities in their production portfolios. Based on Penrose's ideas, it argues that even through M&A transactions, firms tend to determine a coherent (non-random) path of growth due to the internal conditionings defined by their productive and technological characteristics. The paper gives empirical support for these arguments through a cross section analysis, based on a sample of 106 big corporations from the manufacturing industry in the USA and their M&A transactions carried out in the period 1990-1999.

Microeconomic impacts of the mergers and acquisitions of energy industries in the World: an analysis for the 1990's. The energy industries have witnessed a significant growth of global mergers and acquisitions (M&A´s) process in the 1990´s. According to Unctad statistics, the total amount of global M&A deals (domestic and cross borders) on the electric, oil and gas sectors has recorded US$ 329 billions on the 1990-1999 period. The present paper sheds light on M&A process occurred on the energy industries during this period and, based on a sample of 248 transactions carried out by 18 big energy enterprises, develops an empirical microeconomic analysis about the impacts of these transactions over the performance of the firms involved. Overall, the results show significant improvements on the firms' performance after M&A operations, regarding the following variables: sales, net profits, assets, dividends, and, to a less extent, the ratio (net profits/sales).