"This is how large companies operate once they surpass the innovation phase" So true. Family members have seen it in pharma. It's endemic in retail banking. La

"This is how large companies operate once they surpass the innovation phase" So true. Family members have seen it in pharma. It's endemic in retail banking. Large parts of media/entertainment have gone this way, too. The core ideas of being your own PR department -- and hopping from one short-horizon metric to another are just how these places hand out recognition, promotions, etc. At the better ones, innovative work will be tolerated, too. But the easiest path is pretty much what OP describes.