Inorganic Growth

See: Organic Growth.

Coca-Cola grows as a company about 8% a year. Like...GDP of the world plus a few hundred basis points or percentage points. (Emerging market countries grow a lot faster than the U.S. and are still just being intro'd to many soft drinks.) So Coke has organic growth as a company of 8%. But every few years, it buys a bolt-on competitor, i.e. it can just add that competitor's product to its already-existing and powerful distribution system and goose the competitor's volumes by a big number.

That inorganic growth, i.e. growth that happens because Coke bought the company rather than grew it on its own, is "unnatural," or at least not organic to the basic business that Coke is running. The term matters because so many companies mask failing organic businesses by making lots of small acquisitions which hide vulnerabilities in their core.

Google "Cendant Fraud" if you want the XXX-rated version of this inorganic chicanery.