> There was a challenge to this idea at the end of the 20th century, when business school academics the late C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel claimed that the era o

> There was a challenge to this idea at the end of the 20th century, when business school academics the late C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel claimed that the era of conglomerates was over. > Although many large companies were broken up on the back of this mantra, there is little dispute that size is back - with a vengeance. I think it's always a mistake to use a singular data point to proclaim if something is dead. That said, consolidation has become the new norm. Companies and executives trying to either get into every other market or consolidating by buying other companies, hoping synergies will help them keep afloat. This all seems like a mistake. Most of the consolidating companies don't achieve the "synergy" dream and end up with huge amount of debt. So, companies end up being sold for parts ie broken all over again. As for the companies getting into every business imaginable, well, they end up spreading too far too thin without relevant expertise. In the end, there is no choice but to sell the loss making unit.