what is empire building 
empire building is the act of attempting to increase the size and scope of an individual or organization s power and influence in the corporate world this is seen at the intra company level when managers or executives are more concerned with expanding their business units their staffing levels and the dollar value of assets under their control than they are with developing and implementing ways to benefit shareholders empire building can also occur in the larger public arena when corporations take steps to acquire competitors or other firms that might offer downstream or upstream integration or other synergies a corporation might attempt to control a larger market share or form a conglomerate to branch into other industries in an attempt to grow the corporation s influence assets under control and influence 