> Perhaps a good question is : could big companies' R&D be made more efficient? If it's efficient, it's not Research. The cost of the unknown has an unknown co

> Perhaps a good question is : could big companies' R&D be made more efficient? If it's efficient, it's not Research. The cost of the unknown has an unknown cost. If anything, for a sufficiently large company, buying small companies is a fairly efficient way to do R&D. Unsuccessful products die at someone else's expense and you can buy the winners at a tolerable markup.