Critically Evaluate the Main Potential Advantages and...

Which way to grow? The question is, should the company expand horizontally or should the company diversify or expand vertically? There is no clear cut answer to this question. There are advantages and pitfalls to each of these methods and there are many examples of organisation where a certain choice has proven extremely profitable and vice versa. This essay will provide advantages and disadvantages of horizontal expansion by comparing it with vertical and diversified growth. The reader will be presented with the facts and at the end will be allowed to make his own decision. One major deciding factor on growth strategy will be the organisations long term strategy and the behaviour of the Markets, and its competitors. Horizontal†¦show more content†¦BMW have also started to offer financial services in the UK. Horizontally expanded companies are extremely vulnerable to fall in sales and cyclical downturns. Advantage of diversification is that the firm can provide a stable profit stream by offsetting losses in one area to increasing profits in another area. The obvious reason for horizontal expansion is the benefit of cost reduction. As the firm increases its scale of operation it generally experiences a reduction in long-run average costs. After the merger the company can rationalise its operation which leads to instant reduction in overheads. But it’s important not to become to big that leads to diseconomies of scale. Another reason for the reduction in costs is due to the benefit attributed to the learning curve. The learning curve was responsible for the reason why European plan manufacturers could not compete with Boeings’ production efficiency in the 1950s. A firm producing 100 units a day learn faster then a firm producing 10 units a day. A company can also improve its efficiency by merging with a company that already has benefited from the learning curve. The question is how easy the knowledge can be transferred? One major disadvantage of firm that has only expanded horizontally is that it becomes reliant on it suppliers and distributor. 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