---
id: "quote-multiple-expansion-dwarfs-earnings"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["§ Testing AI as a Growth Engine"]
tags: ["valuation", "investor-behavior"]
related: ["concept-multiple-expansion", "concept-efficiency-ceiling"]
speaker: "Authors"
speakers: ["Shlomo Benartzi", "Randall Long", "Stefano Puntoni"]
quote: "Any business in which investors value sustained organic growth faces the same asymmetry: the multiple expansion generated by growth dwarfs the earnings impact of cost reduction."
sources: ["spine"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-spine"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-tier1-04-ai-for-growth"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/companies-are-using-ai-for-efficiency-they-should-use-it-to-grow"
sourceTitle: "Companies Are Using AI for Efficiency. They Should Use It to Grow."
---
# Multiple Expansion Dwarfs Earnings Impact

> Any business in which investors value sustained organic growth faces the same asymmetry: the multiple expansion generated by growth dwarfs the earnings impact of cost reduction.

**Context.** Why financial markets reward organic growth disproportionately over cost savings — the crux of [[concept-multiple-expansion]] and the reason efficiency's [[concept-efficiency-ceiling]] can't compete.

Attributed collectively to the authors — [[entity-shlomo-benartzi]], [[entity-randall-long]], [[entity-stefano-puntoni]].