The overall objective of this thesis is to investigate the survival capacities of actors operating in the photovoltaic industry, that is to say, in a fragmented segment of a value chain whose end-markets experienced turbulence. I intend to contribute to a better understanding of the diversification strategy of: (1) smaller and private firms; (2) non-or-low-tech companies; (3) in a specific economic environment (i.e. the context of turbulence). I conducted interviews and realized a quantitative study of 103 firms.The contributions are threefold.First, I propose a new taxonomy of industrial diversification based on the frontier of an industry and a market. Four possibilities derive from the intersection of intra- and inter-industry diversification: (1) single-business enterprises; (2) intra-industry diversifiers; (3) inter-industry diversifiers in two industries; and (4) inter-industry diversifiers in more than two industries.Second, I identify four business models that derive from these four strategies, which allows me to argue that there can only be a limited number of business models in an industry.Finally, this study identifies two factors impacting a firm’s survival capabilities and growth performance of SMEs in the medium term resulting in four growth performances: (1) the managers’ business horizon focus, and (2) timing of business responses. The results show four trajectories of firm performance. Moreover, while higher performers are more inclined to engage in retrenchment strategies that reduce their overall performance, lower performers tend to invest large amounts, resulting in a better performance. It results in a homogenization of firm performance over time.