Companies often seem like mitochondria; coming together and tearing apart. Each individual action can seem random, but overall, the activity makes for an ecosystem moving in concert.

The trend in firms today is to divide, to move away from the conglomerate model and the much-vaunted synergies that can be gained by owning a share of every piece of an industry. Oil companies are under pressure to split their upstream exploration and production work from their downstream refining and marketing efforts, and companies across multiple sectors are besought by investors to specialize and focus on their areas of expertise. Keep reading →