From the latest at TSM, taken in turn from a comment there:
Coming off my yearly engagement with the think tanks, I've heard, for the first time, a series of data points coming from hospital CEOs that add up to one thing: the admission that exercising a hospital's primary function is no longer a source of value and revenue, it is viewed as entirely cost, risk, and liability. Consequently, they are no longer building any capacity, and are in fact looking for ways to reduce their capacity and eliminate hospital beds.
This is what happens when a business is run by the bean counters... which happens when it's big, or when it's publicly traded.
I've seen it many times in the high-tech area: under current accounting rules, R&D is pure expense. You can't go investing in the company's future by developing the next innovative product, because that's classified as spending the shareholders' money to no good purpose.
Which is why established companies can only create ever-shinier cosmetic variations on the old product line, and replace R&D with M&A: to get a novel product, wait until some little startup company develops it, then buy the company.
Oh, and little things like manufacturing test are also classified as expenses. Quality: we've heard of it, but have no budget for it.
All of which calls for a lengthy rant, but it's Monday morning and I'm already running late.
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