That's an interesting thought, but I'm afraid that the actual reason is far more trivial. Companies are typically founded by highly passionate and creative peo

That's an interesting thought, but I'm afraid that the actual reason is far more trivial. Companies are typically founded by highly passionate and creative people, who care a lot about what they do and are both able and willing to steer their startup in the right direction. Once they grow, they start hiring new employees, many of those will inevitably be the kind of people who only want to do their job and go home. Over time, the management too gets filled by people who apply mainly because it's a high status and well paid position, and are not at all that interested in what the company does. Eventually, all the remaining creative people and even the founders themselves get bored with the routine and leave to do something else and the company becomes hollowed out. The remaining people may be highly skilled and competent in their respective positions, but they are generally unaware of the big picture and the reasons behind how things are done. As the result, the company slowly turns from succesful to dysfunctional as its ossified culture gets out of touch with the ever evolving reality, as there aren't any people left in the company who are able to notice practices that are no longer functional and care enough to change them.