Many companies pursue growth indiscriminately, not prioritizing the types of growth that create the most value. Value spells out how different types of growth create different amounts of value. Introducing a new product or increasing share in a growing market, for instance, yields between three and eight times more value than acquisitions do. Although companies often engage in financial engineering, this rarely creates value, and sometimes it erodes or destroys value. More often than not, financial engineering merely redistributes investors' claims on cash flow, and it isn't worth the trouble. One only has to look at the recent financial crisis for a glaring example of how financial engineering (complex CDOs) can destroy enormous value for companies and even entire economies.