I think this behavior stems from how big companies do performance reviews and promotions for developers. Contributing to someone else's open source project is

I think this behavior stems from how big companies do performance reviews and promotions for developers. Contributing to someone else's open source project is for schmucks and juniors. Authoring a "new" open source project in the company's name, getting recognition and solving problems is seen as "leading the industry" and whatever other wankery sophistry they come up with to try to motivate employees with.