Acquiring businesses can be incredibly difficult. The data on acquisitions shows how hard it is to successfully acquire another company and continue to scale it to meet its potential. The alternative to buying a business is building one yourself. Often this can be a longer road, but one with a much higher chance of success. By flexing your innovation muscles, you are developing your ability to build new businesses, and the more you do it the better you will be. This internal innovation capability can be a big differentiator for you–all the more reason you need to develop internal innovation capabilities.
The perennial question: Build versus Buy?
