Its a valid question. The answer is that it depends on the industry. Sure, if you're a small or mid-sized technology start-up, infighting and backbiting will

Its a valid question. The answer is that it depends on the industry. Sure, if you're a small or mid-sized technology start-up, infighting and backbiting will bring down the firm in months. But if you're in a monopoly position (e.g. Microsoft), or in a non-competitive market (e.g. banks), your company makes money by default. As such, there is a much larger threshold before the drag caused by politics becomes significant enough to affect the performance of the firm.