The lack of investment in research is mirrored in the lack of investment in training.

I worked for a guy who reckoned that a new employee only became really valuable after 18 months with a company because it would take them that long to work out how the business worked and the various nuances. OK, so he was talking about fairly senior roles but investing in someone who knows your business sounds like common sense to me.

If you don't invest in research your products are always going to be "me too" products. Granted that research is expensive and there is a risk that it might not pay off or more likely its worth might not be recognised as per IBM and the relational database!