In business-speak, integration means the expansion of an enterprise's operations within its existing area of activity via merger or takeover.
Comes in two flavours: horizontal integration - taking over other companies that produce the same goods or services (e.g. a brewery takes over another brewery to increase its market share), and vertical integration - taking over companies active upstream or downstream in the supply chain, their suppliers or distributors (e.g. a brewery takes over a pub chain or a supplier of malt to reduce costs, guarantee supplies or sales, or hinder competitors). Both forms of integration carry the risk that a monopoly may develop.