ESTUDIOS / RESEARCH STUDIES

WHO’S WHO IN BUSINESS PORTFOLIO RESTRUCTURING RESEARCH: THE INTELLECTUAL STRUCTURE

Angélica María Sánchez-Riofrío*, Luis Ángel Guerras-Martín**, Francisco Javier Forcadell**

* Facultad de Economía y Ciencias Empresariales, Universidad Espíritu Santo – Ecuador

Correo-e: amsanche@uees.edu.ec | ORCID iD: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9434-7328

** Economía de la Empresa (Adm., Dir. y Org.), Economía Aplicada II y Fundamentos del Análisis Económico Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. Spain

Correo-e: luisangel.guerras@urjc.es | ORCID iD: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3187-5948

Correo-e: franciscojavier.forcadell@urjc.es | ORCID iD: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0145-1842

QUIÉN ES QUIÉN EN LA INVESTIGACIÓN SOBRE REESTRUCTURACIÓN DE LA CARTERA DE NEGOCIOS: LA ESTRUCTURA INTELECTUAL

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION Top

Restructuring is a corporate strategy that includes a variety of actions designed to create shareholder value (Renneboog and Szilagyi, 2008Renneboog, L.; Szilagyi, P.G. (2008). Corporate restructuring and bondholder wealth. European Financial Management, 14 (4), pp. 792-819, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-036X.2007.00414.x.). In view of its complex, diverse and broad scope of study, the literature identifies three dimensions to corporate restructuring: financial, organizational and portfolio-based (Bowman and Singh, 1993Bowman, E.H.; Singh, H. (1993). Corporate restructuring: Reconfiguring the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 14 (1), pp. 5-14, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250140903.). The literature shows how difficult it is to conduct a comprehensive study of corporate restructuring given its broad scope. Therefore, academic papers often limit their analysis to one of its dimensions.

This paper focuses on the literature on the dimension of business portfolio restructuring (BPR). The concept of BPR, as addressed here, is defined as a corporate strategy that affects a company’s activities through business divestitures and acquisitions. It is an alternative way out of a situation of value destruction that many companies face because of internal and external difficulties. Its main purpose is to develop a new arrangement of a firm’s lines of business and create shareholder value (Bergh, 1998Bergh, D.D. (1998). Product-market uncertainty, portfolio restructuring, and performance: An information-processing and resource-based view. Journal of Management, 24 (2), pp. 135-155, https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639802400201.; Bowman and Singh, 1993Bowman, E.H.; Singh, H. (1993). Corporate restructuring: Reconfiguring the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 14 (1), pp. 5-14, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250140903.).

Then, BPR refers to the redefinition of a company’s business activity in response to internal and external difficulties in order to create value for shareholders (Hoskisson et al., 2004Hoskisson, R.E.; Cannella, A.A.; Tihanyi, L.; Faraci, R. (2004). Asset restructuring and business group affiliation in French affiliation in French civil law countries. Strategic Management Journal, 25 (6), pp. 525-539, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.394.). This strategic choice implies the sale of at least one line of business, although it may sometimes include a complex mix of business acquisitions and divestitures (Bergh, 1998Bergh, D.D. (1998). Product-market uncertainty, portfolio restructuring, and performance: An information-processing and resource-based view. Journal of Management, 24 (2), pp. 135-155, https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639802400201.).

The study of BPR is one of the key topics in the field of strategic management (SM). Its study is therefore important for three reasons. First, one of a company’s most significant decisions from a strategic perspective is to define its scope. Moreover, a body of literature links restructuring to firm performance, with performance being the main objective in the business area (Bowman et al., 1999Bowman, E.H.; Singh, H.; Useem, M.; Bhadury, R. (1999). When does restructuring improve economic performance?. California Management Review, 41 (2), pp. 33-54, https://doi.org/10.2307/41165985.; Ronda-Pupo and Guerras-Martín, 2012Ronda-Pupo, G.A.; Guerras-Martín, L.A. (2012). Dynamics of the evolution of the strategy concept 1962-2008: A co-word analysis. Strategic Management Journal, 33 (2), pp. 162-188, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.948.). Second, corporate restructuring is considered one of the major research topics in SM. According to Furrer et al. (2008Furrer, O.; Thomas, H.; Goussevskaia, A. (2008). The structure and evolution of the strategic management field: A content analysis of 26 years of strategic management research. International Journal of Management Reviews, 10 (1), pp. 1-23, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2007.00217.x.), during their study period (1980-2005), 9.1% of all papers published in leading journals on strategy were related to corporate restructuring. Third, the interest in studying BPR is growing worldwide due to the sundry changes that have taken place in the global environment, such as the financial and economic crisis. Today’s economic situation has led many highly diversified companies to divest themselves of businesses that are either unprofitable or not an essential part of their business portfolio (Kang et al., 2010Kang, J.; Lee, I.; Na, H.S. (2010). Economic shock, owner-manager incentives, and corporate restructuring: Evidence from the financial crisis in Korea. Journal of Corporate Finance, 16 (3), pp. 333-351, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2009.12.001.). Recent years have seen many news reports referring to major restructuring processes undertaken by diversified firms (Pathak et al., 2014Pathak, S.; Hoskisson, R.E.; Johnson, R.A. (2014). Settling up in CEO compensation: The impact of divestiture intensity and contextual factors in refocusing firms. Strategic Management Journal, 35, pp. 1124-1143, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2153.). Thus, BPR is not only an important issue because of academic reasons but also a current topic because of real business problems.

Despite the importance of BPR in corporate restructuring and SM literature, to our knowledge, limited progress has been made towards its consolidation as a field of study, and there is a lack of general consensus on its theoretical development and empirical research (Sánchez-Riofrío et al., 2015Sánchez-Riofrío, A.M.; Guerras-Martín, L.A.; Forcadell, F.J. (2015). Business portfolio restructuring: A comprehensive bibliometric review. Scientometrics, 102 (3), pp. 1921-1950, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-014-1495-0.; Schönhaar et al., 2014Schönhaar, S.; Nippa, M.; Pidun, U. (2014). From patchwork to theory development: Mapping and advancing research about business portfolio restructuring. Management Review Quarterly, 64 (3), pp. 157-200, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-014-0103-y.). Within this context, it seems necessary to analyze the state-of-the-art in this area of study. This paper aims to fill the gap in BPR literature by complementing and enhancing the findings of other qualitative and quantitative studies and identifying future challenges for BPR research. Moreover, it aims to contribute, through the different bibliometric techniques used in this study, in the information management field.

This study’s main objective is to map the intellectual structure of BPR research through bibliometric techniques. To do so, we seek to identify the literature that has generated the greatest impact on BPR research, group the topics of greatest interest and, finally, analyze and explain the roots of the research into the intellectual structure of BPR. This analysis assesses the origins of the BPR study area and the main scientific sub-topics in this field.

In order to achieve these objectives, we are going to examine papers by a large number of authors over a long period of time. In view of the increased output of scientific articles over the past decades, the literature review would be very difficult to undertake using traditional qualitative methods. It is therefore necessary to handle bibliometric techniques for complementing the literature review in order to trace the origins of the study and locate the scientific community’s most relevant papers and contributions (González-Alcaide and Gómez Ferri, 2014González-Alcaide, G.; Gómez Ferri, J. (2014). La colaboración científica: Principales líneas de investigación y retos de futuro. Revista Española de Documentación Científica, 37 (4), e062, https://doi.org/10.3989/redc.2014.4.1186.).

To achieve these aims, this paper is divided into four sections. First, a brief review of the literature on BPR is provided. Second, a description is made of the methodology employed, and in particular, citation and co-citation techniques and factor analysis. Third, the results of the bibliometric and factor analysis are discussed. Finally, conclusions, limitations and future lines of research are presented.

Literature review on corporate and business portfolio restructuring

Corporate restructuring is a study area of great interest for researchers of SM (Bergh et al., 2008Bergh, D.D.; Johnson, R.A.; Dewitt, R. (2008). Restructuring, through spin-off or sell-off: Transforming information asymmetries into financial gain. Strategic Management Journal, 29 (2), pp. 133-148, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.652.; Bowman and Singh, 1993Bowman, E.H.; Singh, H. (1993). Corporate restructuring: Reconfiguring the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 14 (1), pp. 5-14, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250140903.; Chang, 1996Chang, S. (1996). An evolutionary perspective on diversification and corporate restructuring: Entry, exit, and economic performance during 1981-89. Strategic Management Journal, 17 (8), pp. 587-611. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199610)17:8<587::AID-SMJ834>3.0.CO;2-1; Untiedt et al., 2012Untiedt, R.; Nippa, M.; Pidun, U. (2012). Corporate portfolio analysis tools revisited: Assessing causes that may explain their scholarly disdain. International Journal of Management Reviews, 14 (3), pp. 263-279, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2011.00316.x.), organization (Bergh and Lawless, 1998Bergh, D.D.; Lawless, M. (1998). Portfolio restructuring and limits to hierarchical governance: The effects of environmental uncertainty and diversification strategy. Organization Science, 9 (1), pp. 87-102, https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.9.1.87.; Sembenelli and Vannoni, 2000Sembenelli, A.; Vannoni, D. (2000). Why do established firms enter some industries and exit others? empirical evidence on Italian business groups. Review of Industrial Organization, 17 (4), pp. 441-456, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007825831547.), finance (Alessandrini et al., 2008Alessandrini, P.; Calcagnini, G.; Zazzaro, A. (2008). Asset restructuring strategies in bank acquisitions: Does distance between dealing partners matter?. Journal of Banking & Finance, 32 (5), pp. 699-713, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2007.05.008.; Denis and Kruse, 2000Denis, D.J.; Kruse, T.A. (2000). Managerial discipline and corporate restructuring following performance declines. Journal of Financial Economics, 55 (3), pp. 391-424, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-405X(99)00055-0.; John and Ofek, 1995John, K.; Ofek, E. (1995). Asset sales and increase in focus. Journal of Financial Economics, 37 (1), pp. 105-126, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(94)00794-2.), economics (Richter, 1997Richter, A. (1997). Restructuring or restrukturierung? corporate restructuring in Britain and Germany. London: Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science.), sociology (Ahmadjian and Robbins, 2005Ahmadjian, C.L.; Robbins, G.E. (2005). A clash of capitalisms: Foreign shareholders and corporate restructuring in 1990s japan. American Sociological Review, 70 (3), pp. 451-471, https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240507000305.; Hirsch and De Soucey, 2006Hirsch, P.M.; De Soucey, M. (2006). Organizational restructuring and its consequences: Rhetorical and structural. Annual Review of Sociology, 32, pp. 171-189, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.32.061604.123146.) and psychology (Harner, 1987Harner, I.C. (1987). Corporate reorganization: Today's challenge. Journal of Mental Health Administration, 14 (2), pp. 60-68.), among the better known disciplines. This paper will focus mainly on SM. However, the fields of finance and organization will also be considered because they are the pioneering fields in the study of BPR and are closely related to strategy (Alexander et al., 1984Alexander, G.J.; Benson, P.G.; Kampmeyer, J.M. (1984). Investigating the valuation effects of announcements of voluntary corporate selloffs. Journal of Finance, 39 (2), pp. 503-517, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1984.tb02323.x.; Bowman and Singh, 1993Bowman, E.H.; Singh, H. (1993). Corporate restructuring: Reconfiguring the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 14 (1), pp. 5-14, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250140903.).

Research into corporate restructuring began in the mid-1970s (Tan and Yuan, 2003Tan, G.; Yuan, L. (2003). Strategic incentives of divestitures of competing conglomerates. International Journal of Industrial Organization, 21 (5), pp. 673-697, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-7187(02)00120-0.), but it was only in the 1990s that its interest increased considerably. Furrer et al. (2008Furrer, O.; Thomas, H.; Goussevskaia, A. (2008). The structure and evolution of the strategic management field: A content analysis of 26 years of strategic management research. International Journal of Management Reviews, 10 (1), pp. 1-23, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2007.00217.x.) include corporate restructuring among the top 20 research topics in SM. Kang et al. (2010Kang, J.; Lee, I.; Na, H.S. (2010). Economic shock, owner-manager incentives, and corporate restructuring: Evidence from the financial crisis in Korea. Journal of Corporate Finance, 16 (3), pp. 333-351, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2009.12.001.) have reported that the study of restructuring has increased since 2008 due to its extensive application in those business decisions made to tackle recent global financial crisis.

A brief literature review allows identifying certain key issues about the current state of BPR research. First, BPR strategy can be implemented on a voluntary or mandatory basis. Following an analysis of a company’s value destruction or a decrease in a diversified company’s benefits, managers may decide to implement a voluntary BPR strategy. Otherwise, external pressures may sometimes force managers to restructure with a view to protecting their own jobs, among other things (Chatterjee et al., 2003Chatterjee, S.; Harrison, J.; Bergh, D. (2003). Failed takeover attempts, corporate governance and refocusing. Strategic Management Journal, 24 (1), pp. 87-96, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.279.). In the first case, the process begins through the internal mechanisms of corporate governance, the product market itself or pressure from institutional investors (John et al., 1992John, K.; Lang, L.H.P.; Netter, J. (1992). The voluntary restructuring of large firms in response to performance decline. Journal of Finance, 47 (3), pp. 891-917, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1992.tb03999.x.; Robbie and Wright, 1995Robbie, K.; Wright, M. (1995). Managerial and ownership succession and corporate restructuring - the case of management buy-ins. Journal of Management Studies, 32 (4), pp. 527-549, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.1995.tb00787.x.; Seward and Walsh, 1996Seward, J.K.; Walsh, J.P. (1996). The governance and control of voluntary corporate spin-offs. Strategic Management Journal, 17 (1), pp. 25-39, https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199601)17:1<25::AID-SMJ797>3.0.CO;2-G). In the second case, the decision to restructure or not is triggered by external mechanisms such as takeovers or capital market threats that may affect the control of the firm (Bergh and Lawless, 1998Bergh, D.D.; Lawless, M. (1998). Portfolio restructuring and limits to hierarchical governance: The effects of environmental uncertainty and diversification strategy. Organization Science, 9 (1), pp. 87-102, https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.9.1.87.; Florou, 2005Florou, A. (2005). Top director shake-up: The link between chairman and CEO dismissal in the UK. Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, 32 (1-2), pp. 97-128, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0306-686X.2005.00589.x.).

Second, SM scholars usually base their research into four approaches (Bergh, 1998Bergh, D.D. (1998). Product-market uncertainty, portfolio restructuring, and performance: An information-processing and resource-based view. Journal of Management, 24 (2), pp. 135-155, https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639802400201.; Moschieri and Mair, 2008Moschieri, C.; Mair, J. (2008). Research on corporate divestitures: A synthesis. Journal of Management & Organization, 14 (4), pp. 399-422, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1833367200003163.): agency theory, transaction cost theory, the resource-based theory and evolutionary theory. The first two theories have been used primarily for the study of divestments and over-diversification (Hoskisson et al., 1999Hoskisson, R.E.; Hitt, M.A.; Wan, W.P.; Yiu, D. (1999). Theory and research in strategic management: Swings of a pendulum. Journal of Management, 25 (3), pp. 417-456, https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639902500307.; Moschieri and Mair, 2008Moschieri, C.; Mair, J. (2008). Research on corporate divestitures: A synthesis. Journal of Management & Organization, 14 (4), pp. 399-422, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1833367200003163.). The resource-based theory currently prevails in SM research, being widely applied in strategy studies (Barney et al., 2011Barney, J.B.; Ketchen, D.J.; Wright, M. (2011). The future of resource-based theory: Revitalization or decline?. Journal of Management, 37 (5), pp. 1299-1315, https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310391805.; Nandialath et al., 2014Nandialath, A.M.; Dotson, J.P.; Durand, R. (2014). A structural approach to handling endogeneity in strategic management: The case of RBV. European Management Review, 11 (1), pp. 47-62, https://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12023.). Finally, the evolutionary approach covers firm adaptation through business entries and exits (e.g., segregation, mergers and acquisitions) in response to environmental changes (Chang, 1996Chang, S. (1996). An evolutionary perspective on diversification and corporate restructuring: Entry, exit, and economic performance during 1981-89. Strategic Management Journal, 17 (8), pp. 587-611. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199610)17:8<587::AID-SMJ834>3.0.CO;2-1; Meyer and Lieb-Doczy, 2003Meyer, K.E.; Lieb-Doczy, E. (2003). Post-acquisition restructuring as evolutionary process. Journal of Management Studies, 40 (2), pp. 459-482, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6486.00347.; Moschieri and Mair, 2008Moschieri, C.; Mair, J. (2008). Research on corporate divestitures: A synthesis. Journal of Management & Organization, 14 (4), pp. 399-422, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1833367200003163.).

Third, the literature identifies three possible directions a firm may take by implementing a BPR strategy: a) refocusing, which is when the firm owns a core business with unique capabilities, so it decides to divest peripheral businesses and renew and concentrate its efforts on its existing core business (Chatterjee et al., 2003Chatterjee, S.; Harrison, J.; Bergh, D. (2003). Failed takeover attempts, corporate governance and refocusing. Strategic Management Journal, 24 (1), pp. 87-96, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.279.; Geroski and Gregg, 1994Geroski, P.; Gregg, P. (1994). Corporate restructuring in the UK during the recession. Business Strategy Review, 5 (2), pp. 1-19, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8616.1994.tb00073.x.; Haynes et al., 2003Haynes, M.; Thompson, S.; Wright, M. (2003). The determinants of corporate divestment: Evidence from a panel of UK firms. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 52 (1), pp. 147-166, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-2681(02)00167-1.); b) repositioning, when the firm identifies a new core business and decides to regroup its resources around the new business (Byerly et al., 2003Byerly, R.T.; Lamont, B.T.; Keasler, T. (2003). Business portfolio restructuring, prior diversification posture and investor reactions. Managerial and Decision Economics, 24 (8), pp. 535-548, https://doi.org/10.1002/mde.1116.; Chang, 1996Chang, S. (1996). An evolutionary perspective on diversification and corporate restructuring: Entry, exit, and economic performance during 1981-89. Strategic Management Journal, 17 (8), pp. 587-611. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199610)17:8<587::AID-SMJ834>3.0.CO;2-1.), and c) firm liquidation, as the last option and occurs when it is impossible to identify a core business that generates more economic value than by selling all the company’s lines of business (Byerly et al., 2003Byerly, R.T.; Lamont, B.T.; Keasler, T. (2003). Business portfolio restructuring, prior diversification posture and investor reactions. Managerial and Decision Economics, 24 (8), pp. 535-548, https://doi.org/10.1002/mde.1116.; Sengupta and Faccio, 2011Sengupta, R.; Faccio, M. (2011). Corporate response to distress: Evidence from the Asian financial crisis. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, 93 (2), pp. 127-154.).

Fourth, the methods commonly used for BPR are: a) divestitures (including spin-offs and sell-offs), understood as the parent company’s reduction in or sale of assets, product lines, subsidiaries or business units (Lee and Madhavan, 2010Lee, D.; Madhavan, R. (2010). Divestiture and firm performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Management, 36 (6), pp. 1345-1371, https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206309360931.; Moschieri and Mair, 2008Moschieri, C.; Mair, J. (2008). Research on corporate divestitures: A synthesis. Journal of Management & Organization, 14 (4), pp. 399-422, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1833367200003163.; Villalonga and McGahan, 2005Villalonga, B.; McGahan, A. (2005). The choice among acquisitions, alliances, and divestitures. Strategic Management Journal, 26 (13), pp. 1183-1208, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.493.), and b) acquisitions and divestitures (including mergers and takeovers), where the firm not only divests but also merges, cooperates or acquires new lines of business in order to implement a new set-up in its field of activity (Bowman and Singh, 1993Bowman, E.H.; Singh, H. (1993). Corporate restructuring: Reconfiguring the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 14 (1), pp. 5-14, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250140903.; Hoskisson and Johnson, 1992Hoskisson, R.E.; Johnson, R.A. (1992). Corporate restructuring and strategic change: The effect on diversification strategy and research-and-development intensity. Strategic Management Journal, 13 (8), pp. 625-634, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250130805.).

2. METHODOLOGY Top

The technique applied here involves the analysis of citations and co-citations. Citation analysis refers to the papers most cited by academics when conducting their own research. It may therefore be posited that the more frequently a work is cited, the greater its contribution will have been to the field analyzed. On the other hand, co-citation analysis refers to the number of times a couple of cited articles (bibliographic references) have been cited simultaneously by the citing sample. Thus, documents are co-cited if they are included in the same reference list (Vogel and Guettel, 2013Vogel, R.; Guettel, W.H. (2013). The dynamic capability view in strategic management: A bibliometric review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15 (4), pp. 426-446.).

This measure of proximity will help to analyze the intellectual structure of research into BPR by identifying the papers, authors and journals that have contributed the most to this research, as well as the topics that are part of the intellectual base in BPR (Ramos-Rodríguez and Ruiz-Navarro, 2004Ramos-Rodríguez, A.R.; Ruiz-Navarro, J. (2004). Changes in the intellectual structure of strategic management research: A bibliometric study of the Strategic Management Journal, 1980-2000. Strategic Management Journal, 25 (10), pp. 981-1004, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.397.). Similarly, an analysis may be made of how the different studies used to construct the research line are grouped and inter-related. This research has been conducted according to the following steps:

a. Selection of the citing sample: the citing sample was identified through two basic searches using the Social Sciences Citation Index® (SSCI) of the Web of Science (WoS). There were no time constraints, so the results corresponded to all the BPR-related publications in the WoS up to December 31, 2012. The first search included the seven papers on BPR in the special issue of SMJ on “corporate restructuring” (vol. 14-Summer 1993), with their respective literature references. Moreover, we added, as citing sample, all the documents that cited at least one of these seven papers.

The second search located those papers that included some relevant keywords extracted from the special issue mentioned above: corporate restructuring, portfolio restructuring, asset restructuring, divestiture, refocusing, reconfiguration and asset sale(s). The search was not restricted to the field of SM. The papers were chosen with a multidisciplinary perspective within the SSCI categories of “business”, “management”, and “business finance”. The types of documents selected were papers, reviews and proceedings, as opposed to other kinds of documents, because they can be considered “certified knowledge” (Ramos-Rodríguez and Ruiz-Navarro, 2004Ramos-Rodríguez, A.R.; Ruiz-Navarro, J. (2004). Changes in the intellectual structure of strategic management research: A bibliometric study of the Strategic Management Journal, 1980-2000. Strategic Management Journal, 25 (10), pp. 981-1004, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.397.).

The two searches were then merged, discarding repeated items and mistakes. A final screening was made to confirm that all these papers were BPR-related. All the papers needed to have at least one of the main keywords identified above in their abstract or title. If a paper had at least one of the main keywords it was accepted in the citing sample. If there was any doubt about a paper, we proceeded to read its abstract to decide whether or not to include it. Those papers that did not have any of the above keywords were discarded, as they were clearly not BPR-related. After this final screening, we selected 479 papers for the citing sample, which included publications from 1959 to 2012.

b. Citing and cited sample migration: We used Bibexcel software (Persson et al., 2009Persson, O.D.; Danell, R.; Wiborg-Schneider, J. (2009). How to use Bibexcel for various types of bibliometric analysis. In: Åström, F.; Danell, R.; Larsen, B.; Schneider, J. (eds.), Celebrating scholarly communication studies: A festschrift for Olle Persson at his 60th birthday. Leuven: International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics.) to migrate the citing sample with its respective literature references (cited sample) to a new Microsoft Excel database. The existence of numerous inconsistencies rendered it essential to conduct a manual clean-up of the sample. Those papers whose references were not located (27 items) were removed, especially very old ones. In addition, the spelling of authors’ names, journal names and different editions of the same reference were corrected. Moreover, any references the program had omitted were located manually and inserted. This set of steps guaranteed the database’s utmost possible accuracy and the reliability of the results forthcoming.

The final citing sample consisted of 452 papers with a total of 20,898 literature references to 12,525 different studies (cited sample). It should be noted that the citing sample represents the cutting-edge of research in the selected field, and the cited sample is the intellectual base for this field (Persson, 1994Persson, O.D. (1994). The intellectual base and research fronts of JASIS 1986-1990. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 45 (1), pp. 31-38, https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(199401)45:1<31::AID-ASI4>3.0.CO;2-G). Our paper used the cited sample to identify the intellectual structure in the field of BPR.

c. Descriptive data obtained from the cited sample: thanks to the previous migration, all cited sample’s descriptive information was organized into different tables in Microsoft Access: abstracts, authors, journals for all the cited sample references and the number of times each literature reference has been mentioned by each citing article. The journals and authors in the cited sample have been sorted by the number of total citations received in the citing sample. This allowed identifying the journals and authors with the highest impact on the intellectual basis of BPR.

In order to obtain the 25 authors who have contributed the most to the study of BPR, an additional calculation was performed. Identification was made of the number of studies in the citing sample that had at least once cited a paper by one of the 25 authors with the most citations. This process provided the authors with the greatest impact in the citing sample, reducing the importance of the number of papers published in favor of their influence.

d. Identification of the most influential BPR-related papers (González-Betancor and Dorta-González, 2015González-Betancor, S.M.; Dorta-González, P. (2015). Porcentaje de artículos altamente citados: Una medida comparable del impacto de revistas entre campos científicos. Revista Española de Documentación Científica, 38 (3), e092, https://doi.org/10.3989/redc.2015.3.1230.): the identification of the 50 most influential papers in the study of BPR from 1959 to 2012 involved choosing the 12,525 different papers in the cited sample and dividing the total number of citations received by the number of years since the article was published, identifying the number of average annual citations. This meant that all the papers could be compared regardless of the years elapsed since their publication (Furrer et al., 2008Furrer, O.; Thomas, H.; Goussevskaia, A. (2008). The structure and evolution of the strategic management field: A content analysis of 26 years of strategic management research. International Journal of Management Reviews, 10 (1), pp. 1-23, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2007.00217.x.).

e. Preparation of the factor analysis: the proximity relations were analyzed between papers with greater impact in the literature on BPR through a factor analysis. Due to the high number of cited references, the cutoff point or threshold was 3.75%. That is, for a citing sample of 452 articles, this citation threshold involved analyzing co-citations among those references cited in at least 17 of the 452 papers analyzed. Overall, the selection for factor analysis involved the 97 most cited papers, and therefore the most influential ones in the area of BPR. The selected papers therefore had a minimum total citation of 17 and a maximum of 96.

The decision on the threshold percentage for the citations is a measure to be taken according to the research design. The two studies analyzing the intellectual structure of SM through factor analysis were taken as reference, being the cases of Ramos-Rodriguez and Ruiz-Navarro (2004Ramos-Rodríguez, A.R.; Ruiz-Navarro, J. (2004). Changes in the intellectual structure of strategic management research: A bibliometric study of the Strategic Management Journal, 1980-2000. Strategic Management Journal, 25 (10), pp. 981-1004, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.397.), who use 100 of the 21,696 different papers to obtain the correlation matrix. Similarly, the study by Nerur et al. (2008Nerur, S.P.; Rasheed, A.A.; Natarajan, V. (2008). The intellectual structure of the strategic management field: An author co-citation analysis. Strategic Management Journal, 29 (3), pp. 319-336, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.659.) selects 62 authors to complement the design of the intellectual structure in SM. Hence the choice of the 97 most cited papers out of the 12,525 literature references is considered acceptable.

There does not appear to be any research that provides a methodological guideline on this matter, so the decision was made according to the best option for computer processing. Once the citation threshold had been defined, the correlation matrix was identified using SPSS version 17; the diagonal of the matrix was replaced by the mean, and following the methodology reported in various papers (Nerur et al., 2008Nerur, S.P.; Rasheed, A.A.; Natarajan, V. (2008). The intellectual structure of the strategic management field: An author co-citation analysis. Strategic Management Journal, 29 (3), pp. 319-336, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.659.; White and McCain, 1998White, H.; McCain, K. (1998). Visualizing a discipline: An author co-citation analysis of information science, 1972-1995. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 49 (4), pp. 327-355, https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(19980401)49:4<327::AID-ASI4>3.0.CO;2-4), factor analysis with varimax rotation was chosen. Figure 1 shows the design of the methodology applied in this research.

Figure 1. Design of the methodology [Descargar tamaño completo]

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Top

This section is divided into two parts: a descriptive analysis and a factor analysis. The first one presents a description of the cited sample for BPR literature, as well as the most influential journals, authors, and papers for informing its intellectual base. The second one singles out the topics most widely studied by the intellectual base in BPR, as identified through a factor analysis of the bibliographic references cited by the 452 BPR papers published.

Descriptive Analysis

The final citing sample consists of 452 articles with a total of 20,898 literature references to 12,525 different documents, which means an average of 46 references per paper. It is noticeable that the number of BPR-related papers published is increasing. By dividing the citing sample into three stages we note the following: the first stage contains the first 20 papers on BPR that appeared between 1959 and 1987; the second stage has a total of 176 papers published in the 1989-2000 period, and the third stage contains 256 articles published between 2001 and 2012.

In the first stage, the BPR-related papers were not published over consecutive years. Things changed in the second and third stages, when there was indeed continuity. However, the number of years in each period coincides (12). The citing sample increases by almost 600% from the first to the second stage, while from the second to the third stage BPR research increases by 36%. This clearly indicates that interest in the study of BPR has grown over time. Furthermore, it should be noted that part of the second stage coincides with the period of highest growth in research into corporate restructuring (Furrer et al., 2008Furrer, O.; Thomas, H.; Goussevskaia, A. (2008). The structure and evolution of the strategic management field: A content analysis of 26 years of strategic management research. International Journal of Management Reviews, 10 (1), pp. 1-23, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2007.00217.x.).

Table I presents the ten journals most cited by the citing sample -only journals are to be found among the most cited sources. The most cited book appears in 43^rd place in the ranking (Ravenscraft, 1987Ravenscraft, D.J. (1987). Mergers, sell-offs, and economic efficiency. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.). This indicator makes a clear distinction between general strategy research and BPR research. The study by Ramos-Rodriguez and Ruiz-Navarro (2004Ramos-Rodríguez, A.R.; Ruiz-Navarro, J. (2004). Changes in the intellectual structure of strategic management research: A bibliometric study of the Strategic Management Journal, 1980-2000. Strategic Management Journal, 25 (10), pp. 981-1004, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.397.) shows that the eleven most cited references in the field of strategy are books, with the first paper appearing down in twelfth place.

It may be deduced that the basic field of study in BPR is related to journals on finance (Journal of Financial Economics, and Journal of Finance), management (Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Science, and Journal of Management) and economics (American Economic Review, and Journal of Political Economy). Regarding the overall ranking, it is worth noting the importance of the first four journals, as each of them accounts for more than 3% of the papers cited. Among them are two on finance and two on management, both disciplines especially related to the field of SM (Furrer et al., 2008Furrer, O.; Thomas, H.; Goussevskaia, A. (2008). The structure and evolution of the strategic management field: A content analysis of 26 years of strategic management research. International Journal of Management Reviews, 10 (1), pp. 1-23, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2007.00217.x.).

Table I. Journal citation frequency [Descargar tamaño completo]

Another interesting result is that 37.6% of the citations received are to be found in just ten academic journals, all of them with a very high impact factor in the WoS within the categories of business, management and finance. In addition, the rest of the papers in the cited sample (62.4%) correspond to different journals that have been cited by less than 1% in the BPR-related literature; two-thirds of the papers in the intellectual structure have been published in less popular journals with different approaches, as happens in the study by Wallin (2012Wallin, M.W. (2012). The bibliometric structure of spin-off literature. Innovation: Management, Policy & Practice, 14 (2), pp. 162-177, https://doi.org/10.5172/impp.2012.14.2.162.).

Table II shows the authors who have contributed the most to the research into BPR. We have identified 8,265 authors from 12,525 different literature references. The first column is the percentage of papers in the citing sample that cite at least one study by a particular author. This criterion is used to sort the authors in this table. This helps to establish an author’s greater or lesser degree of relevance within the overall citing sample.

The second column shows the number of citations that indicate the extent of an author’s influence. The differences between one and another can be explained by an author’s more or less mainstream or specialist approach. That is, an author with many citations, but especially focused on finance, may have many citations without being cited as much by other disciplines. The contributions made by authors with many citations and many papers citing them are more mainstream precisely because they are cited by a larger number of papers.

The third column is scientific production. An author with many papers can be cited on numerous occasions, but these citations are concentrated in fewer papers in the citing sample because each paper cites this author several times. The fourth column shows the field of study of the authors. We decided to divide the sample in three fields of study: SM, finance and economics based in the journal(s) where the authors published their work about BPR. Some of the major findings presented in this table are as follows. Michael C. Jensen tops the ranking in terms of both citations and scientific output. There is no doubt at all that Michael C. Jensen is the largest contributor to the building of the intellectual structure of BPR. His contribution is based primarily on agency theory, an approach that explains the potential conflicts of interest involved in whether or not to make the decision to restructure the business portfolio.

Table II. Main contributors to the intellectual structure of BPR [Descargar tamaño completo]

In the field of SM, and behind Michael C. Jensen, Robert E. Hoskisson records the largest number of items included in the cited sample. The author has 28 papers included in this sample. In contrast, Michael E. Porter has fewer references in the sample, 17 papers. However, within SM field, he is the author with the highest percentage of citations received; nearly 20% of the citing sample quotes him at least once. These two scholars would therefore be the referential authors in the field of strategy in the study of BPR. In the case of Michael E. Porter, this is because he receives a greater number of citations from the citing sample, despite having fewer papers in the cited sample. This finding agrees with the work by Ramos-Rodriguez and Ruiz-Navarro (2004Ramos-Rodríguez, A.R.; Ruiz-Navarro, J. (2004). Changes in the intellectual structure of strategic management research: A bibliometric study of the Strategic Management Journal, 1980-2000. Strategic Management Journal, 25 (10), pp. 981-1004, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.397.), in which Michael E. Porter is the most influential author in the field of SM. In summary, Robert E. Hoskisson is the author who has produced the most papers, and Michael E. Porter is the most cited author for the building of the intellectual base of BPR.

Adopting a more financial approach, Michael C. Jensen, Andrei Shleifer, Larry H.P. Lang, Kose John, Steven N. Kaplan, Gailen L. Hite, and Eugene F. Fama are among the authors with the most influence in the construction of the intellectual base of BPR. The last author (Fama) is a Nobel laureate in Economics (2013), known for his work on portfolio theory and asset pricing. All authors have contributed, above all, through techniques for measuring firm assets and performance.

To complete the descriptive part of this paper, we list the 50 most influential papers in the study of BPR from 1959 through to 2012, dividing the total citations by the number of years since the article was published, as explained in the methodology section. It is noteworthy that 43 of the 50 most influential papers are among the 97 articles chosen as the cited sample. The seven papers that do not appear in the cited sample are the latest ones to have been published, being therefore excluded because they had a fewer number of total citations (Capron et al., 2001Capron, L.; Mitchell, W.; Swaminathan, A. (2001). Asset divestiture following horizontal acquisitions: A dynamic view. Strategic Management Journal, 22 (9), pp. 817-844, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.175.; Colak and Whited, 2007Colak, G.; Whited, T.M. (2007). Spin-offs, divestitures, and conglomerate investment. Review of Financial Studies, 20 (3), pp. 557-595, https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhl022.; Dittmar and Shivdasani, 2003Dittmar, A.; Shivdasani, A. (2003). Divestitures and divisional investment policies. Journal of Finance, 58 (6), pp. 2711-2743, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1540-6261.2003.00620.x.; Graham et al., 2002Graham, J.R.; Lemmon, M.L.; Wolf, J.G. (2002). Does corporate diversification destroy value?. Journal of Finance, 57 (2), pp. 695-720, https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-6261.00439.; Maksimovic and Phillips, 2002Maksimovic, V.; Phillips, G. (2002). Do conglomerate firms allocate resources inefficiently across industries? Theory and evidence. Journal of Finance, 57 (2), pp. 721-767, https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-6261.00440.; Schlingemann et al., 2002Schlingemann, F.P.; Stulz, R.M.; Walkling, R.A. (2002). Divestitures and the liquidity of the market for corporate assets. Journal of Financial Economics, 64 (1), pp. 117-144, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-405X(02)00073-9.; Vijh, 2002Vijh, A.M. (2002). The positive announcement-period returns of equity carveouts: Asymmetric information or divestiture gains?. Journal of Business, 75 (1), pp. 153-190, https://doi.org/10.1086/323508.). Table III shows the papers ordered by the number of annual citations.

Table III. Most influential papers cited in the intellectual structure of BPR [Descargar tamaño completo]

It can be seen that out of 50 items, only three are published in book form (Hoskisson, 2004Hoskisson, R.E.; Cannella, A.A.; Tihanyi, L.; Faraci, R. (2004). Asset restructuring and business group affiliation in French affiliation in French civil law countries. Strategic Management Journal, 25 (6), pp. 525-539, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.394.; Ravenscraft, 1987Ravenscraft, D.J. (1987). Mergers, sell-offs, and economic efficiency. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution. and Porter, 1985Porter, M.E. (1985). The competitive advantage: Creating and sustaining superior performance. New York: Free Press.). This differs from the research on SM, where the first eleven of the cited references are books, and the first paper appears only in twelfth place (Ramos-Rodríguez and Ruiz-Navarro, 2004Ramos-Rodríguez, A.R.; Ruiz-Navarro, J. (2004). Changes in the intellectual structure of strategic management research: A bibliometric study of the Strategic Management Journal, 1980-2000. Strategic Management Journal, 25 (10), pp. 981-1004, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.397.). There are two possible explanations for this difference. First, BPR research is a much more specific and specialized field than the study of SM. Second, the time variable is important, as more and more knowledge is based on articles from scientific journals than from books.

A further aspect to note is that the first six papers that have collaborated in the construction of BPR literature belong to a financial or economic journal, according to the classification of WoS. Furthermore, of the 50 most cited papers, 31 are published in a journal on finance, 3 are published in a journal on economics, 14 are published in a journal on organization, management or SM, and two are published in book form. This confirms that economics, finance and management are the pioneering fields in the study of restructuring, and have significantly influenced the intellectual structure of the study of BPR (Sánchez-Riofrío et al., 2015Sánchez-Riofrío, A.M.; Guerras-Martín, L.A.; Forcadell, F.J. (2015). Business portfolio restructuring: A comprehensive bibliometric review. Scientometrics, 102 (3), pp. 1921-1950, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-014-1495-0.).

Another finding is the major influence of the works whose main subfield is the method involved in restructuring. Twenty of the 50 papers are classified under this heading, with 11 addressing diversification and four dealing with the different theoretical approaches that have served as the basis for BPR literature. This confirms that before considering the matter of restructuring itself, the literature began by studying the mergers, divestitures and acquisitions upon which BPR strategy is founded.

An additional aspect to be highlighted concerns the two most cited authors: Michael C. Jensen in finance and economics journals, and Robert E. Hoskisson in SM journals. This result is partially consistent with table II above, which renders the previous results more reliable.

Finally, the three journals that have published 35 of the 50 most influential papers are as follows: Journal of Finance with 15 papers, Journal of Financial Economics with 13 papers and Strategic Management Journal with seven papers. As can be noted, these three especially outstanding journals coincide with the three foremost journals in Table I above. This means that not only have they published most of the articles (quantity) but also the ones of greatest influence. Furthermore, they are the journals that receive the most citations and which publish the papers that have had the biggest impact on the intellectual structure of research into BPR.

Factor Analysis

A factor analysis has been performed of the 97 most cited articles in order to identify the most important issues that inform the intellectual structure of BPR. For the analysis of proximity between the works with the greatest impact on the intellectual structure of BPR, the co-citation matrix (this matrix stems from co-citation analysis) is transformed into a correlation matrix, and a factor analysis is performed. Table IV presents the five factors (components) extracted (principal component analysis, varimax rotation) with eigen-values greater than one, which together account for 94% of the total variance. This is a very high percentage, which means that these five factors explain the sample without losing much information. The components are considered to have a clean factor structure when at least three variables have their greatest weight in it (Costello and Osborne, 2005Costello, A.; Osborne, J. (2005). Best practices in exploratory factor analysis: Four recommendations for getting the most from your analysis. Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation, 10 (7), available in: http://pareonline.net/genpare.asp?wh=0&abt=10 (Accessed 07/10, 2013).).

Table IV. Total Variance Explained [Descargar tamaño completo]

Appendix A shows the factor score for the cited sample (see http://www.guerrasynavas.com/pdf/Riofrio-Guerras-Forcadell_2017_Appendix_A.pdf).

Each component may represent one or more subfields of the literature on BPR. Factor scores can be interpreted as the degree to which that specific work contributes to the research topic. Due to the overall size of the table, 97 items, only 65 papers with a factor score higher than 0.7 are shown in the five components, as recommended by White and McCain (1998White, H.; McCain, K. (1998). Visualizing a discipline: An author co-citation analysis of information science, 1972-1995. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 49 (4), pp. 327-355, https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(19980401)49:4<327::AID-ASI4>3.0.CO;2-4).

Regarding the works with higher factor scores in the first component (explaining 35.61% of the total variance), 22 of the 25 items belong to the field of SM, and the remaining three references are books. The most important subfields in this factor are: a) corporate strategy (Hill and Hoskisson, 1987Hill, C.W.L.; Hoskisson, R.E. (1987). Strategy and structure in the multiproduct firm. Academy of Management Review, 12 (2), pp. 331-341.; Hitt et al., 1996Hitt, M.A.; Hoskisson, R.E.; Johnson, R.A.; Moesel, D.D. (1996). The market for corporate control and firm innovation. Academy of Management Journal, 39 (5), pp. 1084-1119, https://doi.org/10.2307/256993.; Hoskisson and Hitt, 1988Hoskisson, R.E.; Hitt, M.A. (1988). Strategic control-systems and relative R-and-D investment in large multiproduct firms. Strategic Management Journal, 9 (6), pp. 605-621, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250090607.; Hoskisson and Johnson, 1992Hoskisson, R.E.; Johnson, R.A. (1992). Corporate restructuring and strategic change: The effect on diversification strategy and research-and-development intensity. Strategic Management Journal, 13 (8), pp. 625-634, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250130805.; Lieberman and Montgomery, 1988Lieberman, M.B.; Montgomery, D.B. (1988). First-mover advantages. Strategic Management Journal, 9 (S1), pp. 41-58, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250090706.; Porter, 1987Porter, M.E. (1987). From competitive advantage to corporate-strategy. Harvard Business Review, 65 (3), pp. 43-59.; Shleifer and Vishny, 1991Shleifer, A.; Vishny, R.W. (1991). Takeovers in the 60s and the 80s - evidence and implications. Strategic Management Journal, 12 (2), pp. 51-59, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250121005.); b) diversification (Bergh and Holbein, 1997Bergh, D.D.; Holbein, G.F. (1997). Assessment and redirection of longitudinal analysis: Demonstration with a study of the diversification and divestiture relationship. Strategic Management Journal, 18 (7), pp. 557-571. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199708)18:7<557::AID-SMJ911>3.0.CO;2-6; Hoskisson, 1994Hoskisson, R.E. (1994). Downscoping: How to tame the diversified firm?. Nueva York, NY: Oxford University.; Markides, 1995Markides, C.C. (1995). Diversification, restructuring and economic-performance. Strategic Management Journal, 16 (2), pp. 101-118, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250160203.; Palepu, 1985Palepu, K. (1985). Diversification strategy, profit performance and the entropy measure. Strategic Management Journal, 6 (3), pp. 239-255, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250060305.); c) corporate restructuring (Bethel and Liebeskind, 1993Bethel, J.E.; Liebeskind, J.P. (1993). The effects of ownership structure on corporate restructuring. Strategic Management Journal, 14 (1), pp. 15-31, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250140904.; Bowman and Singh, 1993Bowman, E.H.; Singh, H. (1993). Corporate restructuring: Reconfiguring the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 14 (1), pp. 5-14, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250140903.; Gibbs, 1993Gibbs, P.A. (1993). Determinants of corporate restructuring: The relative importance of corporate governance, takeover threat, and free cash flow. Strategic Management Journal, 14 (1), pp. 51-68, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250140906.; Hoskisson and Turk, 1990Hoskisson, R.E.; Turk, T.A. (1990). Corporate restructuring: Governance and control limits of the internal capital-market. Academy of Management Review, 15 (3), pp. 459-477, https://doi.org/10.2307/258018.; Johnson et al., 1993Johnson, R.A.; Hoskisson, R.; Hitt, M. (1993). Board of director involvement in restructuring: The effects of board versus managerial controls and characteristics. Strategic Management Journal, 14 (1), pp. 33-50, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250140905.); d) corporate refocusing (Johnson, 1996Johnson, R.A. (1996). Antecedents and outcomes of corporate refocusing. Journal of Management, 22 (3), pp. 439-483, https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639602200304.; Markides, 1992Markides, C.C. (1992). Consequences of corporate refocusing: Ex ante evidence. Academy of Management Journal, 35 (2), pp. 398-412, https://doi.org/10.2307/256379.), and e) divestitures (Duhaime and Grant, 1984Duhaime, I.M.; Grant, J.H. (1984). Factors influencing divestment decision-making: Evidence from a field-study. Strategic Management Journal, 5 (4), pp. 301-318, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250050402.; Hoskisson et al., 1994Hoskisson, R.E.; Johnson, R.A.; Moesel, D.D. (1994). Corporate divestiture intensity in restructuring firms: Effects of governance, strategy, and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 37 (5), pp. 1207-1251, https://doi.org/10.2307/256671.; Montgomery et al., 1984Montgomery, C.A.; Thomas, A.R.; Kamath, R. (1984). Divestiture, market valuation, and strategy. Academy of Management Journal, 27 (4), pp. 830-840, https://doi.org/10.2307/255881.; Ravenscraft, 1987Ravenscraft, D.J. (1987). Mergers, sell-offs, and economic efficiency. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.).

In this same factor, the key theories used to study BPR from a strategic point of view are named: agency theory, the resource-based theory (Bergh, 1995Bergh, D.D. (1995). Size and relatedness of units sold: An agency theory and resource-based perspective. Strategic Management Journal, 16 (3), pp. 221-239, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250160306.) and transaction costs theory (Williamson, 1975Williamson, O.E. (1975). Markets and hierarchies: Analysis and antitrust implications. Nueva York, NY: Free Press.; Williamson, 1985Williamson, O.E. (1985). The economic institutions of capitalism: Firms, markets, and relational contracting. Nueva York, NY: Free Press.). It could be inferred that this factor groups the most developed subfields in SM, and they have provided the platform for the development of BPR literature. It is important to note that the subfield of corporate restructuring accounts for four of the seven papers in the special issue of SMJ (Vol. 14 Summer issue, 1993), with very high factor scores, which confirms the importance of this special issue for the advancement of BPR.

Two major aspects stand out in the second factor. First, there are works with a positive sign and higher factor scores referring to different ways of restructuring. Second, with a negative sign, there are works based on the resource-based theory and organizational theory. It is important to mention that all the works with a positive sign, with the exception of one that is a book, appear in the Journal of Finance or in the Journal of Financial Economics. Moreover, all the papers with a negative sign, except for one that is a book, appear in journals in the field of management or strategic management (Bowman et al., 1990Bowman, E.H.; Singh, H.; Reginald, H. Jones Center for Management Policy, Strategy, and Organization (1990). Corporate restructuring: Trends and consequences. Philadelphia: Reginald H. Jones Center, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.; Eisenhardt, 1989Eisenhardt, K.M. (1989). Agency theory: An assessment and review. Academy of Management Review, 14 (1), pp. 57-74.). In this case, the positive and negative signs only differentiate articles with a financial perspective from papers with a management perspective.

The following works are found on the topic of “restructuring methods”: Hite and Owers (1983Hite, G.L.; Owers, J.E. (1983). Security price reactions around corporate spin-off announcements. Journal of Financial Economics, 12 (4), pp. 409-436, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(83)90042-9.), Miles and Rosenfeld (1983Miles, J.A.; Rosenfeld, J.D. (1983). The effect of voluntary spin-off announcements on shareholder wealth. Journal of Finance, 38 (5), pp. 1597-1606, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1983.tb03843.x.), Schipper and Smith (1983Schipper, K.; Smith, A. (1983). Effects of recontracting on shareholder wealth - the case of voluntary spin-offs. Journal of Financial Economics, 12 (4), pp. 437-467, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(83)90043-0.), Cusatis et al. (1993Cusatis, P.J.; Miles, J.A.; Woolridge, J.R. (1993). Restructuring through spinoffs - the stock-market evidence. Journal of Financial Economics, 33 (3), pp. 293-311, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(93)90009-Z.), Daley et al. (1997Daley, L.; Mehrotra, V.; Sivakumar, R. (1997). Corporate focus and value creation - evidence from spinoffs. Journal of Financial Economics, 45 (2), pp. 257-281, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-405X(97)00018-4.), and Krishnaswami and Subramaniam (1999Krishnaswami, S.; Subramaniam, V. (1999). Information asymmetry, valuation, and the corporate spin-off decision. Journal of Financial Economics, 53 (1), pp. 73-112, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-405X(99)00017-3.) on the subject on spin-offs; Schipper and Smith (1986Schipper, K.; Smith, A. (1986). A comparison of equity carve-outs and seasoned equity offerings - share price effects and corporate restructuring. Journal of Financial Economics, 15 (1-2), pp. 153-186, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(86)90053-X.) and Slovin et al. (1995Slovin, M.B.; Sushka, M.E.; Ferraro, S.R. (1995). A comparison of the information conveyed by equity carve-outs, spin-offs, and asset sell-offs. Journal of Financial Economics, 37 (1), pp. 89-104, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(94)00796-4.) on equity carve-outs; Alexander et al. (1984Alexander, G.J.; Benson, P.G.; Kampmeyer, J.M. (1984). Investigating the valuation effects of announcements of voluntary corporate selloffs. Journal of Finance, 39 (2), pp. 503-517, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1984.tb02323.x.), Jain (1985Jain, P.C. (1985). The effect of voluntary sell-off announcements on shareholder wealth. Journal of Finance, 40 (1), pp. 209-224, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1985.tb04945.x.), and Hite et al. (1987Hite, G.L.; Owers, J.E.; Rogers, R.C. (1987). The market for interfirm asset sales: Partial sell-offs and total liquidations. Journal of Financial Economics, 18 (2), pp. 229-252, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(87)90040-7.) on sell-offs; Mulherin and Boone (2000Mulherin, H.J.; Boone, A.L. (2000). Comparing acquisitions and divestitures. Journal of Corporate Finance, 6, pp. 117-139, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0929-1199(00)00010-9.) on acquisitions; Rosenfeld (1984Rosenfeld, J.D. (1984). Additional evidence on the relation between divestiture announcements and shareholder wealth. Journal of Finance, 39 (5), pp. 1437-1448, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1984.tb04916.x.), Klein (1986Klein, A. (1986). The timing and substance of divestiture announcements: Individual, simultaneous and cumulative effects. Journal of Finance, 41 (3), pp. 685-696, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1986.tb04532.x.), Boot (1992Boot, A.W.A. (1992). Why hang on to losers - divestitures and takeovers. Journal of Finance, 47 (4), pp. 1401-1423, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1992.tb04663.x.), John and Ofek (1995John, K.; Ofek, E. (1995). Asset sales and increase in focus. Journal of Financial Economics, 37 (1), pp. 105-126, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(94)00794-2.), and Lang et al. (1995Lang, L.H.P.; Poulsen, A.B.; Stulz, R.M. (1995). Asset sales, firm performance, and the agency costs of managerial discretion. Journal of Financial Economics, 37 (1), pp. 3-37, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(94)00791-X.) on divestitures.

It should be noted that although the first factor also contains works on divestitures, in this second factor the subfield is studied from a financial perspective. The works on the resource-based theory are: Penrose (1959Penrose, E. (1959). The theory of the growth of the firm. Nueva York, NY: Wiley.), Wernerfelt (1984Wernerfelt, B. (1984). A resource-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 5 (2), pp. 171-180, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250050207.), Prahalad and Hamel (1990Prahalad, C.K.; Hamel, G. (1990). The core competence of the corporation. Harvard Business Review, 68 (3), pp. 79-91.), Barney (1991Barney, J.B. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17 (1), pp. 99-120, https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639101700108.), and Teece (1997Teece, D.; Pisano, G.; Shuen, A. (1997). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 18 (7), pp. 509-533, https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199708)18:7<509::AID-SMJ882>3.0.CO;2-Z). Furthermore, there is a paper on the organizational approach (Dimaggio and Powell, 1983Dimaggio, P.J.; Powell, W.W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48 (2), pp. 147-160, https://doi.org/10.2307/2095101.). It is worth mentioning that, albeit with lower factor scores, there are two works (Comment and Jarrell, 1995Comment, R.; Jarrell, G.A. (1995). Corporate focus and stock returns. Journal of Financial Economics, 37 (1), pp. 67-87, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(94)00777-X.; Porter, 1985Porter, M.E. (1985). The competitive advantage: Creating and sustaining superior performance. New York: Free Press.) related to a company’s outcomes; specifically dealing with share performance and competitive advantage. The explained variance is 32.65% in this latter factor.

The third factor has an explained variance of 15.31%, and is mostly related (8 out of 11 references) to the subfield of corporate governance. The works by Amihud and Lev (1981Amihud, Y.; Lev, B. (1981). Risk reduction as a managerial motive for conglomerate mergers. Bell Journal of Economics, 12 (2), pp. 605-617, https://doi.org/10.2307/3003575.), Weisbach (1988Weisbach, M. (1988). Outside directors and CEO turnover. Journal of Financial Economics, 20 (1-2), pp. 431-460, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(88)90053-0.), Morck et al. (1988Morck, R.; Shleifer, A.; Vishny, R.W. (1988). Management ownership and market valuation: An empirical analysis. Journal of Financial Economics, 20 (1-2), pp. 293-315, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(88)90048-7.), Kaplan (1989Kaplan, S. (1989). The effects of management buyouts on operating performance and value. Journal of Financial Economics, 24 (2), pp. 217-254, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(89)90047-0.), and Jensen and Murphy (1990Jensen, M.C.; Murphy, K.J. (1990). Performance pay and top-management incentives. Journal of Political Economy, 98 (2), pp. 225-264, https://doi.org/10.1086/261677.) address management teams/board of directors, while the works by Berle and Means (1932Berle, A.A.; Means, G.C. (1932). The modern corporation and private property. New York: Macmillan.), Jensen and Meckling (1976Jensen, M.C.; Meckling, W.H. (1976). Theory of firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. Journal of Financial Economics, 3 (4), pp. 305-360, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(76)90026-X.), Jensen (1989Jensen, M.C. (1989). Eclipse of the public corporation. Harvard Business Review, 67 (5), pp. 61-74.), and Lehn and Poulsen (1989Lehn, K.; Poulsen, A. (1989). Free cash flow and stockholder gains in going private transactions. Journal of Finance, 44 (3), pp. 771-787, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1989.tb04390.x.) analyze the ownership structure. The literature considers that a takeover bid is the external control mechanism for managers to sit up and refocus their strategy in order to ensure their company’s survival (Chatterjee et al., 2003Chatterjee, S.; Harrison, J.; Bergh, D. (2003). Failed takeover attempts, corporate governance and refocusing. Strategic Management Journal, 24 (1), pp. 87-96, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.279.). The works by Roll (1986Roll, R. (1986). The hubris hypothesis of corporate takeovers. Journal of Business, 59 (2), pp. 197-216, https://doi.org/10.1086/296325.), and Bhagat et al. (1990Bhagat, S.; Shleifer, A.; Vishny, R. (1990). Hostile takeovers in the 1980s - the return to corporate specialization. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, pp. 1-84, https://doi.org/10.2307/2534780.), with lower factor scores, are based on takeovers as an additional subfield in this factor.

The fourth factor is related to a single work with an explained variance of 7.43% and a factor score of 0.762 (Lins and Servaes, 1999Lins, K.; Servaes, H. (1999). International evidence on the value of corporate diversification. Journal of Finance, 54 (6), pp. 2215-2239, https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-1082.00186.). This fourth factor contains a paper that analyzes the matter from a financial perspective in different institutional environments, that is, internationalization. Although a part of the first factor also examines diversification, it does it in the context of the field of SM and relates it to restructuring.

Finally, the fifth factor contains a work with a factor loading of 0.731 and an explained variance of 3.48% of the total (Jensen and Ruback, 1983Jensen, M.C.; Ruback, R.S. (1983). The market for corporate-control: The scientific evidence. Journal of Financial Economics, 11 (1-4), pp. 5-50, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(83)90004-1.). This work, closely related to those on corporate governance, is a comprehensive review of the scientific literature on corporate control and concludes that the control market is a platform in which management teams compete for the right to manage corporate resources. Several studies suggest that corporate control is an important determinant in the decision on whether or not to implement a strategy, not only in terms of BPR but also as regards corporate restructuring (Denis and Kruse, 2000Denis, D.J.; Kruse, T.A. (2000). Managerial discipline and corporate restructuring following performance declines. Journal of Financial Economics, 55 (3), pp. 391-424, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-405X(99)00055-0.; Haynes et al., 2003Haynes, M.; Thompson, S.; Wright, M. (2003). The determinants of corporate divestment: Evidence from a panel of UK firms. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 52 (1), pp. 147-166, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-2681(02)00167-1.; Hoskisson et al., 2005Hoskisson, R.E.; Johnson, R.A.; Tihanyi, L.; White, R.E. (2005). Diversified business groups and corporate refocusing in emerging economies. Journal of Management, 31 (6), pp. 941-965, https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206305279895.; Inoue et al., 2008Inoue, K.; Kato, H.K.; Bremer, M. (2008). Corporate restructuring in Japan: Who monitors the monitor?. Journal of Banking & Finance, 32 (12), pp. 2628-2635, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2008.05.014.). Table V provides an overview of the subfields with higher factor scores in each component.

Table V. Research subfields that are the building blocks for the study of BPR [Descargar tamaño completo]

Some observations are pertinent regarding the data obtained from this factor analysis. Identifying the intellectual structure through bibliometric techniques and factor analysis allows us to examine the basic conceptual foundations of BPR with a view to consolidating the theoretical contributions and detecting the starting point for research into this topic. Furthermore, it is noted that the fields of management, economics and finance are the ones that have initially contributed the most to the intellectual base of BPR literature. Concepts such as divestiture and diversification have been widely studied in both financial and strategic literature, often coinciding on certain aspects, such as the definition of both concepts, but also contributing from their own perspectives. For example, most scholars in the field of SM consider divestiture to be a subfield of the restructuring strategy (Bowman and Singh, 1993Bowman, E.H.; Singh, H. (1993). Corporate restructuring: Reconfiguring the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 14 (1), pp. 5-14, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250140903.; Hoskisson et al., 1994Hoskisson, R.E.; Johnson, R.A.; Moesel, D.D. (1994). Corporate divestiture intensity in restructuring firms: Effects of governance, strategy, and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 37 (5), pp. 1207-1251, https://doi.org/10.2307/256671.), while for many financial scholars divestiture may be considered a strategy in itself for improving firm performance (Boot, 1992Boot, A.W.A. (1992). Why hang on to losers - divestitures and takeovers. Journal of Finance, 47 (4), pp. 1401-1423, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1992.tb04663.x.; Lang et al., 1995Lang, L.H.P.; Poulsen, A.B.; Stulz, R.M. (1995). Asset sales, firm performance, and the agency costs of managerial discretion. Journal of Financial Economics, 37 (1), pp. 3-37, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(94)00791-X.).

The factor analysis of the second component mentions two works (Comment and Jarrell, 1995Comment, R.; Jarrell, G.A. (1995). Corporate focus and stock returns. Journal of Financial Economics, 37 (1), pp. 67-87, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(94)00777-X.; Porter, 1985Porter, M.E. (1985). The competitive advantage: Creating and sustaining superior performance. New York: Free Press.), which record lower factor scores for a firm’s performance or results. However, the majority of the 97 papers reviewed here with the exception of the items on theories, corporate governance and corporate control, bear some relation to firm performance. Therefore, both the works on finance and economics and those on organization and SM seek to use restructuring to improve shareholder wealth and firm performance.

It is interesting to compare the subfields identified by this article’s factor analysis with those forthcoming from the same analysis conducted by Sanchez-Riofrio et al. (2015Sánchez-Riofrío, A.M.; Guerras-Martín, L.A.; Forcadell, F.J. (2015). Business portfolio restructuring: A comprehensive bibliometric review. Scientometrics, 102 (3), pp. 1921-1950, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-014-1495-0.). An initial reading reveals three clearly overlapping areas in both studies: divestitures, corporate governance, and corporate control. However, these areas are complemented by others, and are grouped differently, due mainly to the papers’ different goals and their analysis of different samples (cited and citing sample).

The subfields identified in the cited sample (this article) represent the topics studied as antecedents of BPR research in Sanchez-Riofrio et al. (2015Sánchez-Riofrío, A.M.; Guerras-Martín, L.A.; Forcadell, F.J. (2015). Business portfolio restructuring: A comprehensive bibliometric review. Scientometrics, 102 (3), pp. 1921-1950, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-014-1495-0.). Before studying BPR strategy, academics extensively investigated divestitures, acquisitions, corporate governance, diversification, and corporate control, without such studies necessarily having a BPR perspective. These topics constituted the basis for subsequent research focusing on BPR. This confirms that the most significant factor is Strategic Management, as a particularly important area in this field, especially regarding business diversification, whose excessive levels may inform the need for a BPR strategy.

Meanwhile, the three subfields identified in the citing sample (Sanchez-Riofrio et al., 2015Sánchez-Riofrío, A.M.; Guerras-Martín, L.A.; Forcadell, F.J. (2015). Business portfolio restructuring: A comprehensive bibliometric review. Scientometrics, 102 (3), pp. 1921-1950, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-014-1495-0.) are directly related to the dedicated research on BPR. Divestiture is studied as a restructuring method. In fact, the concept of BPR implies that a company has to undertake at least one significant divestment. In addition, BPR academics consider corporate governance and corporate control refer to the mechanisms, both internal (boards, ownership structure) and external (based on markets), shareholders have for controlling managers’ discretionary behavior forcing them to apply a BPR strategy. Economic performance refers to the results sought by those shareholders supporting a BPR strategy.

4. CONCLUSIONS Top

This paper posits some new ideas related to the intellectual basis for BPR research. Identification of the different publications was made, the authors who have contributed the most, and the topics that have most enriched the development of this strategy. This paper provides a guide to identify the more relevant literature and gain a more holistic and objective vision of this field of study. The contribution this work makes is relevant because the analysis of the intellectual structure of the literature on BPR allows identifying the main characteristics of this field.

First, the number of papers published on BPR has been increasing since 1989. Second, the first papers providing the baseline for the study of BPR deal with the agency, transaction costs, resource-based, and organizational theories.

Third, the journals that published most of the articles (quantity) included in the intellectual structure of BPR and the most influential articles are: Journal of Financial Economics, Strategic Management Journal, and Journal of Finance. However, a high percentage of papers pertaining to the intellectual structure corresponds to journals on diverse subjects of study, thereby confirming the multidisciplinary and multifaceted nature of the literature on the intellectual basis of BPR.

Fourth, the authors who have contributed the most to this field in terms of both the quantity and the quality of their contributions are the following: Michael C. Jensen, Andrei Shleifer, Larry H.P. Lang, Michael E. Porter and Robert E. Hoskisson. Similarly, the intellectual basis has been nurtured largely by brief academic contributions from different scholars. This confirms the complexity and heterogeneity of this area of study.

Fifth, of the 50 most influential works in the literature on BPR, the issue of restructuring methods (divestments and acquisitions) is the largest contributor informing research into BPR. This confirms that divestitures are the forerunners of corporate restructuring. The most influential papers correspond to the fields of finance, SM/management and, to a lesser extent, organization. This implies that BPR does not involve isolated changes and that restructuring strategy refers to the company as a whole, whereby financial or organizational restructuring may occur simultaneously or sequentially regarding BPR.

Sixth, concerning the five components identified by factor analysis, we find that the discipline of finance has contributed to the development of an important literature on equity carve-outs, spin-offs, sell-offs, acquisitions and divestments, which may now be considered part of different methods for financial, organizational and portfolio restructuring (Bergh et al., 2008Bergh, D.D.; Johnson, R.A.; Dewitt, R. (2008). Restructuring, through spin-off or sell-off: Transforming information asymmetries into financial gain. Strategic Management Journal, 29 (2), pp. 133-148, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.652.; Bowman and Singh, 1993Bowman, E.H.; Singh, H. (1993). Corporate restructuring: Reconfiguring the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 14 (1), pp. 5-14, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250140903.; Chemmanur and Liu, 2011Chemmanur, T.J.; Liu, M.H. (2011). Institutional trading, information production, and the choice between spin-offs, carve-outs, and tracking stock issues. Journal of Corporate Finance, 17 (1), pp. 62-82, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2010.07.005.). Subsequently, issues such as takeovers, corporate control, agency problems and diversification have preceded the study of BPR and contributed to determine, especially as antecedents, the intellectual basis of BPR (Johnson, 1996Johnson, R.A. (1996). Antecedents and outcomes of corporate refocusing. Journal of Management, 22 (3), pp. 439-483, https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639602200304.; Schönhaar et al., 2014Schönhaar, S.; Nippa, M.; Pidun, U. (2014). From patchwork to theory development: Mapping and advancing research about business portfolio restructuring. Management Review Quarterly, 64 (3), pp. 157-200, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-014-0103-y.).

This paper inevitably has its limitations. First, the search criteria and selection of papers through certain keywords in the WoS might be biased and affect the results. One potential bias can be the fact that WoS has been growing in the number of journals included over time. Then, recent articles have more probability to appear in the citing sample than old ones. However, considering that traditional qualitative reviews limit their selection to a series of specialized papers and journals with subjective criteria, the choice of the papers using this methodology may be justified. In this case, the database is used without a time limit and includes papers from the fields of SM, organization and finance, substantially broadening the scope of the search and objectifying, insofar as possible, the selection of papers included in the database.

A further limitation is the bibliometric technique used. Due to the large number of items that were dealt with at the beginning of this work, the possibility of omitting an item that should be considered within the citing sample could not be ruled out. Nevertheless, given the relative weight of a single paper, this is not expected to significantly influence the final sample. The co-citation analysis used to build the co-citation matrix and subsequent correlation matrix also has its drawbacks, as it identifies just a very small fraction of the sample cited originally (only 97 items). Besides, the interpretation of the five components of factor analysis is inevitably subjective. However, the clusters of topics identified reveal a particular interest shown by some authors toward certain knowledge areas related to the study of BPR (Callon et al., 1993Callon, M.; Courtail, J.P.; Penan, H. (1993). Cienciometría. La medición de la actividad científica: De la bibliometría a la vigilancia tecnológica. Gijón: Ediciones Trea.).

Future research should entail a bibliometric analysis of the citing sample. It could be performed to obtain a more updated perspective of the study of BPR. As a future line of research in a broader context, it would be interesting to complete this paper by identifying the intellectual structure of financial and organizational restructuring to develop the analysis of the literature on corporate restructuring as a whole.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSTop

The authors wish to thank the editor of Revista Española de Documentación Científica and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. This paper has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Reference number: Project ECO2015-67434-R) and Universidad Espíritu Santo in Ecuador (Reference number: 265).

AGRADECIMIENTOS

Los autores desean agradecer al editor de la Revista Española de Documentación Científica y a los revisores anónimos por sus valiosos comentarios. Este trabajo ha sido financiado por el Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad en España (número de referencia: Proyecto ECO2015-67434-R) y por la Universidad Espíritu Santo en Ecuador (número de referencia: 265).

REFERENCESTop

APPENDIXTop

Appendix A. Rotated Component Matrix [Descargar tamaño completo]