Chapter 13. Vertical Mergers

Man, as I have hinted before, naturally loves to imitate what he sees others do, which is the reason that savage people all do the same thing: this hinders them from meliorating their condition, though they are always wishing for it: but if one will wholly apply himself to the making of bows and arrows, whilst another provides food, a third builds huts, a fourth makes garments, and a fifth utensils, they not only become useful to one another, but the callings and employments themselves will, in the same number of years, receive much greater improvements, than if all had been promiscuously followed by every one of the five.

Mandeville, Fable of the Bees, 1729

IN 1998, BARNES & NOBLE, the nation’s largest book retailing chain, announced plans to acquire Ingram Book Group, the largest wholesale distributor of books in the United States, in a vertical merger combining a retailer with a wholesaler-distributor.