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Thoughts on Corporate Growth

2022-01-25


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ew0k lamented today^ that companies seem to have an insatiable urge to constantly grow. My employer, while not prominent in public discourse, is a multi-billion dollar company regardless, and as such, growth is something I hear about from them a lot. This has led me to a few thoughts.


I think the desire to grow returns stems from human nature itself. Humans evolved as hunters and gatherers in the natural world, and a hallmark of the natural world is that resources get depleted. Simply being alive requires a constant influx of sustenance and hydration; killing an animal for food or fur reduces the available population of prey; gathering wood and stones for buildings took away from the available stones or wood that could be used for weapons or tools. The miracle of the modern world is that we can (in theory) sustain ourselves without undue depletion of natural resources. As we see in modern society, however, that plentitude doesn't make us stop wanting things. Our desire simply rises to meet the supply. As the total wealth and efficiency of the world increases, recent history has shown that we start wanting more of that wealth, and that makes us want to grow what we have--whether we need to or not.


At the same time, I suspect there is also some response bias involved. ew0k mentioned that some small companies seem to be content where they are; in my experience, this is actually far more common than it seems, and likely comprises the majority of companies. There are thousands of companies that try to broadcast their logos and brand names in every aspect of our daily lives, but in terms of raw numbers, they make up a small proportion of the millions of companies in the United States alone.


Almost all of those companies are very, very small. I think of all the independent cafes and restaurants, book stores, hair salons, bicycle shops, hobby stores, business consultants, print shops, contractors, electricians, and internal processing companies that exist. Many of them have no intention to get any bigger--they just want to keep their ledgers in the black so they can make a living. Because they're not obsessively trying to grow, they don't inundate us with advertisements and they don't aggressively try to expand into their respective markets and destroy competitors. And because they're not doing those things, we don't hear as much from companies looking for stability than we do from companies looking for growth.


I don't particularly value growth, or growth potential, as a marker of viability for a company. Whether they provide a good product or service is far more important to me. The best way for me to show that preference is to work with smaller businesses as much as I can, supporting those who prioritize service over profits, and trying to temper my human instincts to constantly want more.


^ Why Do Corporations Have to Grow?


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