Inorganic Growth: Definition, How It Arises, Methods, and Example

What Is Inorganic Growth?

Inorganic growth arises from mergers or takeovers rather than an increase in the company's own business activity. Firms that choose to grow inorganically can gain access to new markets through successful mergers and acquisitions. Inorganic growth is considered a faster way for a company to grow compared to organic growth.

How Is Inorganic Growth Achieved?

Firms can choose to grow inorganically in several ways including engaging in mergers and acquisitions and, in the case of retail or branch organizations, opening new stores or branches.

Mergers are challenging from an integration perspective. Acquisitions can be accretive to earnings, but the implementation of the technology or knowledge acquired can take time. In other words, pulling the value out of mergers and acquisitions is more complex than taking credit for sales. Costs in the form of restructuring charges can greatly increase expenses. The purchase price of the acquisition can also be prohibitive for some firms.

By opening new stores in profitable locations, businesses can take advantage of the higher growth rates associated with new stores. However, when new stores are placed in locations that cannibalize sales and/or do not have enough traffic to support those stores, they can be a drag on sales.

Inorganic Growth vs. Organic Growth 

Which is best, inorganic or organic growth? Inorganic growth, such as a boost from acquisitions, can provide a short-term boost. However, steady and slow organic growth can be viewed as superior, as it shows the company has the ability to make money regardless of the economic backdrop. Plus, there’s the downside of potentially using debt to fund inorganic growth. On the flipside, inorganic growth might not fully repair declining organic growth or internal issues.

One of the most important measures of performance for fundamental analysts is growth, particularly in sales. Sales growth can be the result of promotional efforts, new product lines and improved customer service, which are internal, or organic, measures. 

Growth in organic sales is often described in terms of comparable sales or same-store-sales when referring to retail outlets. In other words, these sales occur naturally and not through the acquisition of another company or the opening of new stores. Some analysts consider organic sales to be a better indicator of company performance. A company may have positive sales growth due to acquisitions while same-store-sales growth may decline due to a decrease in foot traffic. Analysts research organic sales by analyzing inorganic sales growth.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Inorganic Growth

If a company merges with another in pursuit of inorganic growth, that company's market share and assets become larger. This offers immediate benefits such as the additional skills and expertise of new staff and a greater likelihood of obtaining capital when needed. As well, it allows a company to grow much faster and almost immediately increase its market share. 

However, there are disadvantages in that additional management is required, the direction of the business may go in an unanticipated direction, there may be additional debt or a company could grow too quickly incurring substantial risk. The downsides to inorganic growth is the large upfront costs and management challenges with integrating acquisitions.