The Return of Scale: Why Conglomerates Are Back on the Boardroom Agenda

In an era dominated by the mantra of focus, a quiet reversal is taking place. Diversification, once derided as bloated and directionless, is regaining credibility in boardrooms. Conglomerates are back, and this time, they're built for resilience.

Berkshire Hathaway never stopped proving the case, but now we see diversified structures emerging in new guises. Amazon straddles e-commerce, cloud, advertising, and devices. Alphabet maintains bets across search, AI, and biotech. And private equity behemoths like Blackstone and Brookfield are building portfolios that span insurance, real estate, infrastructure, and private credit.

Why? Because macro instability rewards portfolio optionality. Diversified firms hedge against cyclicality, inflation shocks, and geopolitical disruption. Modern systems - cloud ERPs, data lakes, and real-time dashboards - reduce the overhead once associated with managing complex operations.

The strategic message: it may be time to revisit your "non-core" assumptions. Are you dismissing adjacency plays too early? Could your core business finance your next platform? Conglomerates aren’t just old-school, they’re becoming future-fit.

3 Executive Takeaways:

• Reevaluate diversification as a strategic hedge, not a distraction.

• Use data-driven systems to manage complexity.

• Don’t conflate focus with fragility - resilience is the new premium.