Conversely, neither Valve nor Google are digging their graves, like much of the rest of the industry does over time. See the prior post about Dell. Look at Microsoft.
Focus helps, but good people make a bigger difference. The overhead, be that 20% time or whatever else, is peanuts in comparison.
Interesting. One might go further and postulate an inverse relationship between the focus of a company and it's ability to attract 'good people'.
It's tempting to argue that the kind of long-term vision usually shared by the best researchers is at odds with having pressure from management to compete. To be sure, companies with focus also fund pure R&D, but non-monopolies won't usually be able structure an an entire corporate culture around the research mentality.
Focus helps, but good people make a bigger difference. The overhead, be that 20% time or whatever else, is peanuts in comparison.