Article
Total Growth: Integration of Organic Growth and M&A
Our approach to supporting organizations achieve continuous growth
Our experience with clients regularly shows that Mergers & Acquisitions are not handled as an integral part of the corporate growth strategy process. As a result of this siloed approach to growth, M&A and organic growth activities are not aligned early in the corporate strategy process and significant revenue and innovation potential remains unused. Our Total Growth approach establishes systematic thinking and enables companies to streamline their pursuits and achieve continuous growth.
To help organizations combine growth options from organic to inorganic M&A initiatives, our Total Growth framework consists of the following three building blocks:
- A mindset to enable a company-wide, holistic approach to growth
- A continuum of interlinked growth phases to develop and pursue growth options
- Growth capabilities enabling Total Growth
Addressing these three building blocks of the Total Growth approach helps companies to achieve holistic growth and thereby generate value for the company, its shareholders, and society.
The enabling Total Growth mindset
From our experience of working with our clients, the Total Growth mindset requires the following:
- Clear ambition to openly use organic as well as inorganic growth levers or a combination of both
- Critical balancing and quantification of growth options
- Defined roles and responsibilities to leverage full growth potential
- Ambition to think outside the box, unconstrained by existing structures and views
- Planting the seed for growth early on
- Cross-hierarchical anchoring of a growth mindset
With Total Growth including its mindset, companies and their leaders can avoid reverting back to conventional wisdom, past experience, or industry best practices when it comes to making future growth choices. Leveraging the entire spectrum of growth options and constantly building and improving growth capabilities will unlock the company’s full growth potential.
Capabilities needed for Total Growth
To be executed successfully, each phase of the Total Growth Continuum requires an interplay of different growth capabilities. The diagnostic element of Total Growth helps companies to assess their capabilities and identify improvement needs to establish the perpetual Total Growth process. While both mindset and ambition prepare the organization for Total Growth, it is crucial that the required capabilities are identified and then nurtured in-house or acquired externally: Growth capabilities along the spectrum of M&A and organic growth as well as enabling capabilities such as IT, legal, infrastructure, back office capabilities acting as an enabler for Total Growth. To ensure future-ready growth, companies should constantly challenge their capabilities against trends and market dynamics. Whereas traditional capabilities might lose priority, others, like participating in the ecosystem, increase in importance.
Conclusion
Managers can increase the likelihood of continuous success by implementing Total Growth with its three contributing building blocks of mindset, Continuum, and capabilities. Aligning these three building blocks is the key factor for successfully establishing Total Growth in the organization in order to enable continuous growth and allow the organization to live up to its full potential.
