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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. Chewy, for its part, gained a bulwark against established brick-and-mortar competitors, including those operating in one of retail’s bright spots: pet care services.

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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.

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Design as a New Vertical Forcing Function

Harvard Business Review

From Microsoft’s latest radical reorganization and subsequent purchase of Nokia’s devices unit to Google’s acquisition of Motorola , it’s clear that after decades of horizontal integration, high tech is in an age of increased verticalization. What is driving this change?

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

Harvard Business Review

Improving Operational Efficiency. The biggest opportunities for these companies are simplification and horizontal integration projects. They can help companies exploit rapidly evolving information technology and implement a virtuous cycle of revenue growth and operational-efficiency improvements.