A Review of Corporate Divestiture

Divestment represents an important corporate strategic tool; however, research on divestment is eclipsed by research on mergers and acquisitions, and divestment is often incorrectly considered an inverse of an acquisition. Further, most divestment research focuses on performance at the expense of antecedents and processes that set the foundation for later performance. Our review provides a more complete picture of the stages of divestment with a focus on summarizing literature on divestment antecedents and processes. The result shows a need to integrate theoretical perspectives and look at divestment more holistically at the same time that divestment capabilities may be limited to specific modes. Additional implications for management research and practice are identified.