Diversification Strategies in Local Family Business Groups: Are They Market-Oriented or Resource-Oriented?

Family business groups are a growth models in late industrialized and developing countries. Evolving individual businesses to diversified business groups is one of the common growth strategies of firms in the mentioned countries. The aim of this study is to explore the diversification strategies and underlying orientation of diversification strategies in family businesses groups. In this study, it is assumed that in local and relatively small family business groups, pursuing market oriented strategies result unrelated diversified while resource oriented strategies cause related diversified. Accordingly, they are investigated the family business groups both as member of Afyonkarahisar Chamber of Commerce and Industry and have at least 4 businesses. The data is collected by way of semi-structured interviews with either founders of the business group or senior managers being a family member. Consequently, it is found that the local and small family business groups’ diversification strategies are resource-oriented in early stage while they become more market-oriented when they reach notable size.