Mergers and Acquisitions Strategy for Consolidations: Roll Up, Roll Out and Innovate for Superior Growth and Returns

Chapter 2The History of Rollups

A glance at some of the news articles and magazine stories of the 1990s creates the impression that the rollup was a brand-new business development phenomenon in that decade. However, its roots stretch back to the earliest days of commerce when Ug clubbed Urk on the head to eliminate a competitor and gain control over another piece of the woolly mammoth meat market.

Economic historians blithely attribute the expansionist efforts of Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan to their compulsion to capture markets. In essence, the argument asserts that their conquering crusades were the manifestation of their rollup strategies to gain control of the surrounding sources of raw materials, production resources, and capacity ...