Merriam Webster has an article explaining the meaning of “scale” in business.
'Scale' is increasingly being used as shorthand for 'scale up' (“to grow or expand in a proportional and usually profitable way”)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/scale-the-business-meaning-origin
How can I interpret “proportional” here?
I checked this thread What does “scale” mean in “scale a media company / make media more scalable?
Or as a production process: if my plant costs $1B and produces X, a plant that produces 2X will not cost $2B, and the cost of my products will go down. Therefore I would rather build one giant refinery than many smaller ones (prices not... in scale).
I also checked this article. https://newdirectioncapital.com/difference-growth-scaling/
Scaling: When a company scales, it increases revenue, often at an exponential rate. But, the increase in resources required occurs at an incremental rate, if at all. A company that is scaling effectively is able to bring in $20 million worth of revenue for the same cost or nearly the same cost as it brought in $10 million.
If according to Merriam Webster, scale means “expand in a proportional way”, I don’t see how “scale” can mean increasing the revenue while keeping the same cost.