Business. Organic and inorganic growth

Organic and inorganic growth

Strong, successful businesses achieve internal growth (also known as           [external, organic, inorganic, merging] growth). This means building the business by turning occasional customers into regulars, opening new outlets or launching new          [external, merging, products, organic]. It’s using the creativity and energy of staff to build a small business into a giant. When Whitbread plc bought Costa Coffee in 1995 it only had 40 coffee shops. By mid-2017 this had been built organically into 2,200 in the UK and nearly 1,800 overseas. Inorganic growth (also known as            [merging, productive, organic, external, take-overs] growth) means buying up another business (a take-over) or          [products, external, organic, merging, revenue] with a business of a similar size. This can be a valuable way to grow, but most takeovers prove a disappointment, so external growth should be a last resort.

Inorganic growth means growing by buying or merging with a different business.

A merger happens when two businesses agree to work together on a single project.