Interview Question - Revenue Growth vs SG&A Improvement

A buddy of mine got asked the following question:

Would you prefer 3% improvement to top-line growth or 1% improvement in SG&A?

Ignoring actual numbers and thinking about it conceptually, a few thoughts of mine are the following:

• My first instinct is to start by acknowledging that ultimately what I want is a higher impact on EBITDA, as this is a major driver of levered FCF generation and the exit EV and thus IRR

• A 1% improvement in SG&A quantum will lead to a 1% improvement in EBITDA quantum

• The revenue growth improvement's impact on EBITDA will depend on the degree of operating leverage (DOL) in the business - if the business has a high DOL, then the increase in sales will not lead to a commensurate increase in the company's cost base, improving EBITDA. However, it is also worth bearing in mind that other cash flow items (e.g. capex, change in NWC) will likely be modelled on revenue and so these will also be impacted, potentially negating the positive impact of improved EBITDA on levered FCF

Without numbers, I believe that's as far as one can go with regards to explaining the logic. I don't think you can take a definitive side without numbers in front of you but based on the logic above I am erring on the improvement in SG&A side (given that this will likely have less of an impact on other cash flow items), but I caveat that I would need numbers to analyse.

Would be interested to see how you guys would approach this question/most logically structure your answer!