Introduction -- Research Motivation -- Research Objective -- Structure of Dissertation -- Diversification in Corporations -- Definition of Diversification -- Overview of Academic Research on Corporate Diversification -- Diversification/Performance -- Managing Diversified Portfolios -- Introduction to the Private Equity Industry and the Role of Diversification -- Overview of the Private Equity Industry -- Profile of the Leveraged Buyout Segment -- Diversification in Private Equity -- Comparison of Private Equity Firms and Diversified Corporations -- General Research Design -- Starting Position in Academic Literature -- Direction of Research -- Empirical Research Design -- Empirical Part I - Diversification/Performance -- Hypotheses -- Methodology -- Empirical Results -- Discussion of Results -- Empirical Part II - Managing Diversified Portfolios -- Exploratory Framework -- Methodology -- Empirical Results -- Discussion -- Conclusion/Outlook -- Implications for Private Equity Managers -- Implications for Investors/Corporate Managers.