The nature of the relationship between growth and profitability remains inconclusive, despite prior research. To contribute to a better understanding of the growth-profitability relationship, we examine its non-linear character. We achieve this by deconstructing growth into organic and acquisitive modes, and by theorizing how the particular costs and benefits of each mode affect the profitability, which we measure as return on assets. Furthermore, we propose that the interaction of these two modes can also affect profitability. By studying these relationships with a panel data set of established German firms during a 13-year period, we uncover an inverted U-shaped relationship between growth and profitability that is mainly driven by acquisitive growth. These decreasing returns at higher levels of acquisitive growth are related to the higher internal costs of managing acquisitions. Consistent with our logic, we find that organic growth has a declining positive profitability effect. The interaction of both growth modes also shows that increasing acquisitive growth negatively impacts the positive effect of organic growth on profitability.

尽管有先前的研究，但增长与盈利能力之间关系的性质仍然没有定论。为了有助于更好地理解增长-盈利能力关系，我们研究了它的非线性特征。我们通过将增长解构为有机和收购模式，并通过理论化每种模式的特定成本和收益如何影响盈利能力（我们将其衡量为资产回报率）来实现这一目标。此外，我们认为这两种模式的相互作用也会影响盈利能力。通过在 13 年期间使用德国老牌公司的面板数据集研究这些关系，我们发现了主要由收购增长驱动的增长与盈利能力之间的倒 U 型关系。这些在较高水平的收购增长下的回报下降与管理收购的较高内部成本有关。与我们的逻辑一致，我们发现有机增长对盈利能力的积极影响正在下降。两种增长模式的相互作用还表明，增加收购性增长会对有机增长对盈利能力的积极影响产生负面影响。