IB Business Management Higher Level (HL) Practice Test

Vertical integration is when a company extends its control along the supply chain, from sourcing raw materials through manufacturing to distribution and sales. By owning multiple stages, a firm can coordinate production more tightly, secure supplies, and often reduce costs and delays, which matches the idea of controlling the entire production process from start to finish.

This isn’t horizontal integration, which would involve expanding by taking over other firms at the same stage of production to gain market share. It isn’t diversification, which means moving into new, often unrelated, products or markets rather than controlling the entire chain. It isn’t outsourcing, which would mean delegating part of the production process to external firms rather than controlling it all.