Miles Neale (5/6/2013)
The idea of large companies seeking to polish the core product instead of expanding is almost un-American. And the idea that now that a huge company has all the money they will ever need and they should hold back on research is just silly. Most companies believe in grow or die, and that means both internal growth and creativity as well as buying creativity if you have the monies.
If American business really believed in growth, they would be more likely to set aside short term growth and profits for long term viability and profits. Unfortunately the design of our system, while very good, can lead to short sighted thinking. A LOT of businesses pursue current year profits at the expense of future growth. We see it all the time. One example from my own experience is an opertaions manager that needed to meet certain numbers to earn a bonus. He moved future business into the current month to increase his numbers. The next month he was short and had to do it again. And again. And again.
Are we talking about privately owned business, small corporations, large corporations, fortune 500? Each has their own strengths and weaknesses, and are affected differently by the requirements they operate under. Apple is being pressurred very heavily to return profits to investors. I for one hope they ignore that, and continue to innovate and produce superior products. It takes money to engage in research. Apple would not be here if it weren't for what I remember as a $500 million dollar investment from Microsoft quite a while back. Obviously Apple benefitted, but I think Microsoft did as well.
Dave