Cross-business synergies

Currently, the realization of cross-business synergies is one of the most pressing strategic issues on the corporate agenda of multi-business firms. Sebastian Knoll investigates what cross-business synergies actually are and how they are realized successfully. In a first step, a theory-based typology of cross-business synergies is developed and two new types of synergies are conceptualized: (1) Growth synergies, i. e. profitable growth advantages from recombining complementary operative resources across businesses, and (2) corporate management synergies, i. e. performance advantages from leveraging corporate management capabilities across businesses. In a second step, the author focuses on growth synergies and inducts a framework for their continuous realization from a longitudinal in-depth single case study. He suggests that the successful realization of growth synergies is associated with a selective focus on specific growth opportunities, decentralized cross-business collaboration that motivates productive business unit self-interest, and a corporate management approach that guides and balances this self-interest in an evolutionary fashion.