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
Syllabification: con·glom·er·ate
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /kuhn-glAH-muhr-ruht/
- British English – /kuhn-glO-muh-rit/
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
Works Consulted
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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 November 29, 2023 (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 November 29, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/conglomerate/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“conglomerate.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 29 Nov. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/conglomerate/>.