All public companies are required to have public “earnings” calls available to all shareholders. Typically these calls will take place early in the morning after quarterly earnings numbers have been released and generally few people, relative to the total number of shareholders, listen to them.

When I listen to these calls (which is not very common) I enjoy listening to corporate managers talk about their companies and their goals, but I also like to listen to the “question time” that always comes at the end of the calls. Analysts from all of the biggest investment firms will always ask questions in the same manor. They will first thank the executives for taking their question and then ask two questions in rapid succession (it’s always two questions for some reason). The questions always relate to monetization and growth. Growth is the subject of this entry.

How can things always continue to grow? I suppose at its most basic level growth in demand for products and services is linked directly to population growth. As long as there are more and more people to serve, growth is possible. But the question is: what’s the limit? Will we always be able to expect year over year growth from all companies or eventually will those analysts be talking about something else instead of “growth”? Maybe one day they’ll start talking about “sustainability”?

Thoughts?

Growth – What’s the limit?
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