conglomerate

Definition of Conglomerate

(noun) A large group of businesses from unrelated and diverse industries, owned by a single corporation, that provide a variety of goods and services.

Examples of Conglomerate

• Anheuser-Busch InBev
• Berkshire Hathaway
• Colgate-Palmolive
• Dow Chemical Company
• Eaton Corporation
• Ford Motor Company
• General Electric
• The Hershey Company
• Johnson & Johnson
• Kraft Heinz
• Lockheed Martin
• Mars, Incorporated
• Newell Brands
• Odebrecht
• Procter & Gamble
• Quala
• Reynolds American
• S. C. Johnson & Son
• Time Warner
• United Breweries Group
• Viacom
• The Walt Disney Company
• Xylem Inc.
• YPF
• 21st Century Fox

Conglomerate Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: con·glom·er·ate

Audio Pronunciation

International Phonetic Alphabet

• American English – /kənˈglɑmərət/
• British English – /kənˈɡlɒmərət/

Usage Notes

• Plural: conglomerates
• Conglomerates are formal organizations, typically created through acquisitions or mergers and serve to diversify risk.
• Conglomerates are sociologically interesting because they are large, complex, often multinational entities that can manipulate the balance of wealth and power in the global economy.
• The act or process of creating a conglomerate is called conglomeration.
• Also called corporate conglomerate.

Additional Information

• Economic Sociology Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
• Word origin of “conglomerate” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com

Related Terms

• bureaucracy
• capitalism
• global assembly line
• good
• outsourcing

---

Works Consulted

Black, John, Nigar Hashimzade, and Gareth Myles. 2010. A Dictionary of Economics. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Bruce, Steve, and Steven Yearley. 2006. The SAGE Dictionary of Sociology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Brym, Robert J., and John Lie. 2007. Sociology: Your Compass for a New World. 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. 2010. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Norton.

Kendall, Diana. 2011. Sociology in Our Times. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Law, Jonathan, ed. 2010. A Dictionary of Accounting. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Macionis, John. 2012. Sociology. 14th ed. Boston: Pearson.

Macionis, John, and Kenneth Plummer. 2012. Sociology: A Global Introduction. 4th ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.

Princeton University. 2010. WordNet. (https://wordnet.princeton.edu/).

Shepard, Jon M. 2010. Sociology. 11th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Shepard, Jon M., and Robert W. Greene. 2003. Sociology and You. New York: Glencoe.

Thompson, William E., and Joseph V. Hickey. 2012. Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology. 7th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).

Cite the Definition of Conglomerate

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “conglomerate.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 26, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/conglomerate/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

conglomerate. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/conglomerate/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “conglomerate.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 26, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/conglomerate/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“conglomerate.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/conglomerate/>.