That stops working when the internal bureaucracy of the company reaches a certain size and internal politics become too isolated from the realities of external

That stops working when the internal bureaucracy of the company reaches a certain size and internal politics become too isolated from the realities of external competition. (Other reasons for isolation are also possible, such as when the competition on the merits of the product is secondary to competition on the ability to navigate regulation or the social circles of the few prospective customers.) As far as I’ve seen, the general dynamic of having to spend the budget you’ve been given, even in the most wasteful way possible, or facing a budget reduction next term is universal whether you’re a bureaucrat in a socialist government, a bureaucrat in a large department of a democratic government, or a manager in a large company like IBM or Oracle.