One way companies grow is to launch new businesses into product markets where they have not previously competed. For example, GE, starting with an incandescent lamp business, has moved to businesses covering more than 700 product markets. Recent examples of corporate diversification include the entries of Gillette into manufacture of felt-tip pens, John Deere into snowmobiles, and Texas Instruments into pocket calculators.
A version of this article appeared in the May 1979 issue of Harvard Business Review.
