国际收购和其他成长性战略.pdfVIP

International Acquisition and Other Growth Strategies: Some Lessons from the Food and Drink Industry Richard Lynch Executive Summary This article explores profitable international growth strategies when markets are mature through a two-stage study of companies in the food and drink industry. The first stage assessed 400 announcements about such strategies made by medium- and large-sized food and drink firms in the period 1998–2001. The second stage examined in depth the international growth strategies of the world’s 35 leading food and drink companies over the period 1985–2001. Both stages showed that acquisition was the most widely used method of international expansion. The second stage suggested that organic international growth (i.e., based on the company’s current product portfolio) was the other main option for such expansion. Importantly, the international acqui- sition route was usually focused on the existing product portfolio of a company. In this sense, there was clear convergence between the purpose of an international acquisi- tion (i.e., to support or enhance the existing product portfolio outside the home coun- try) and the broader company purpose of delivering successful organic growth from its current range of products. The second study also suggested that international acqui- sitions can bring faster sales growth than organic activity but come with greater risk and other potential problems. The research identified some practical lessons derived from such strategies in the food and drink industry. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. INTRODUCTION Over the last 20 years, som