Diversification and performance in the US energy industry

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:5620179

Mayo, J W

Several fundamental questions about multiple output firms and industrial structure are addressed. What factors might motivate multiproduct operations. Into what product lines is a firm likely to expand. What relationships emerge between multiple-product operations and firm costs. What are the likely impacts of multiproduct operations on firm prices. A framework relating firm motives, action, and performance is posited in which these questions are addressed, both in general and in the specific case of multiproduct energy firms. Next, the multiproduct characteristics of major energy producers are examined and provide a basis for empirical analysis of these firms. Potential motives for energy-firm diversification and the subsequent impact on performance of the firm are e investigated. Four potential motives are identified: technical economies, market power, financial economies, and government regulation and taxation. In order to examine the possibility that technical economies motivated petroleum-firm diversification, the theory of the multiproduct firm is drawn upon and extended empirically. The general conditions under which firm diversification for the attainment of financial economies are identified and are examined for petroleum-firm diversification into coal. Finally, several ways that government regulation or taxation may motivate petroleum-firm diversification are identified.

• OSTI ID: 5620179
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
292000* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Supply
Demand & Forecasting
294000 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Fossil Fuels
DIVERSIFICATION
ENERGY SOURCE DEVELOPMENT
FUEL SUBSTITUTION
INDUSTRY
PERFORMANCE