horizontal integration

Noun

horizontal integration (countable and uncountable, plural horizontal integrations)

1. The integrating of identical stages in the production or marketing process under the ownership or control of a single management organization, typically by mergers and acquisitions in the same industry, to increase market share, reduce competition, or achieve economies of scale.
   • This process of vertical and horizontal integration has resulted in consolidation of control over basic transformation technologies used in the genetic modification of crops; control over proprietary traits; and control over the elite germplasm resources for many of the world's most important...2003, Rachel Schurman, Dennis D. Kelso, chapter 1, in Engineering trouble: biotechnology and its discontents, →ISBN, page 28
   • In the 1930s, Brandeis argued that large companies would inevitably exploit their workers, convert their profits into political influence, and corrode both the market and the machinations of government. But the Reagan administration and subsequent lawmakers have allowed vertical and horizontal...2016 September 11, Derek Thompson, “America's Monopoly Problem”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN

   Antonyms:

   vertical integration