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Why Companies Are Using M&A to Transform Themselves, Not Just to Grow

Harvard Business Review

The current cohort of acquisitions goes well beyond the typical defensive, synergy-driven, horizontal integration that marked previous M&A spurts. Though recent acquisitions may seem idiosyncratic, they all have in common the need to find new avenues for growth in mature markets or deal with accelerating change. Symbiosis.

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A Board Director's Perspective on What IT Has to Get Right

Harvard Business Review

online idea markets), the center of expertise for innovation support, and analysis across the enterprise. Improving Operational Efficiency. The biggest opportunities for these companies are simplification and horizontal integration projects. Ensuring Effective Corporate Governance and Controllership.

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Today's Best Companies are Horizontally Integrated

Harvard Business Review

With every degree of verticalization now made possible by information and communications technologies, the right scope of operations for any given firm is an open question. Today, your management team should be giving more thought to horizontal integration. Let me suggest, however, that it is the wrong question to obsess about.