Why Do Firms Grow

1644 Words7 Pages
Why do firms grow? Reasons for growth: 1. Profit motive: a. Businesses grow to achieve higher profits and provide better returns for shareholders b. The stock market valuation of a firm is influenced by expectations of future sales and profit streams so if a company achieves disappointing growth figures, this can be reflected in a fall in the share price. This opens up the risk of a hostile take-over and also makes it more expensive for a quoted company to raise fresh capital by issuing new shares 2. Cost motive: a. Economies of scale in the long run increase the productive capacity of the business leading to lower average costs. They help to raise profit margins at a given market price 3. Market power motive: a. Firms may wish to increase market dominance giving them increased pricing power b. This market power can be used as a barrier to the entry of new businesses in the long run c. Larger businesses can build and take advantage of buying power (monopsony power) 4. Risk motive: a. Growth might be motivated by a desire to diversify production and/or sales so that falling sales in one market might be compensated by stronger demand in another sector b. This is known as achieving economies of scope and is a feature of conglomerates 5. Managerial motives: Behavioural theories of the firm predict that business expansion might be accelerated by senior and middle managers whose objectives differ from major shareholders. Organic Growth Organic growth is also known as internal growth. It happens when a business expands its own operations rather than relying on takeovers and mergers. Organic growth can come about from:  Increasing existing production capacity through investment in new capital & technology  Development & launch of new products  Finding new markets for example by exporting into emerging countries  Growing a
Open Document