Recent research by Neffke and Henning basically says the answer is Yes.  Their empirical evidence reveals that it is the nature of a firm’s human capital more than any other variable in the firm’s value chain that impacts that firm’s choice of diversification targets.  Simply put, firms select targets that offer opportunities for leveraging existing human resources.   Neffe and Henning show that firms are far more likely to diversify into industries that have ties to the firms’ core activities in terms of their existing workforce, than into industries without such ties or into industries that are linked by value chain linkages.  In fact, Neffke and Henning report that “firms are over 100 times more likely to diversify into industries to which the firms’ core industries are strongly skill related in comparison with industries for which such skill-relatedness linkages are weak.”

Neffke, Frank and Martin Henning (2013), “Skill Relatedness and Firm Diversification,” Strategic Management Journal, 34, 297-316.