ABSTRACT
Corporate-level strategy is a corporate centre's approach for strategically managing a multi-business group of organizations. For large organizations, inorganic growth offers an attractive way forward to gain the necessary expertise if investors support the move with new finance to cover the costs of acquisitions. Expansion in an organization's activities in an industry takes two directions: vertical and horizontal. Horizontal integration is the expansion of an organization's activities sideways in an industry, achieved by acquiring rivals in the same part of the supply chain. Horizontal integration occurs when competitors that offer similar or complementary products and services are taken over and merged with an organization's existing activities. Backward vertical integration enables an organization to control some of the resources that are used as inputs in the production of its products and services. Forward vertical integration up the distribution chain enables more control of the distribution centres and retailers.
