Why 'Growth at All Costs' Is the Enemy of Lasting Success

"The single most important thing a company can do, if you believe most self-styled business gurus, is grow. This seems self-evident at first. Conventional wisdom tells us a growing business is more profitable, less vulnerable to competition and more sustainable in the long run. But that isn't always the case. Responsible growth often achieves these goals, but pursuing growth at all costs usually works against them. And growing responsibly requires you to maintain the quality of what you offer so you can build long-term loyalty through consistent customer experience."

"Chasing growth at all costs leads to betraying customers. You may have recognized a pattern at some of the world's most prominent companies in recent years, especially within the tech world: A business creates something with obvious value for a lot of people, locks in its customers and then spends the rest of its existence finding new ways to siphon value from those customers while gradually letting their original product degrade. Various people have used different names for this, like vampire capitalism, extractivism and platform decay."

"Loyalty comes from offering long-term solutions. We stop being valuable the moment what we sell stops working as advertised. Sustainable growth requires you to maintain the quality of your product, but it also requires you to maintain goodwill with your existing customers. Here's why. Chasing growth at all costs leads to betraying customers. You may have recognized a pattern at some of the world's most prominent companies in recent years, especially within the tech world:"

Chasing growth at all costs can betray customers by siphoning value while letting the original product degrade. Some prominent companies follow a pattern of creating initial value, locking in customers, and then extracting more value over time. Responsible growth can be profitable and sustainable, but it requires maintaining the quality of what is offered to deliver a consistent customer experience. Loyalty comes from long-term solutions that keep working as advertised. A company stops being valuable when its product no longer performs reliably. Sustainable growth therefore requires both product quality and goodwill with existing customers.

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