This article originally appeared on HBR.org

Barely a month goes by without a major company announcing that it is breaking up its business into spun-out public companies. Kellogg, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, General Electric, and IBM all recently made such announcements. While it is too soon to predict the effectiveness of any single recently announced deal, this intensified focus on separations raises some critical questions about the value created from a spin-off. What is it that these companies are hoping to achieve? What challenges will they face? How will they create shareholder value in light of these challenges?

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