hutcheson - 5:12 pm on Sep 7, 2010 (gmt 0)

>I once worked for a large corporation and it was amazing how money just flooooowed out, with no one ever looking at the ROI.

I've worked for some large corporations.

And what you say is true. But what's even more amazing is ... how the money flows when someone up in the rarified-oxygen altitudes TRIES to look at the ROI. The decisions are simply incredible.

Example: Stuffed-suit PHB notices that new customers are less profitable than old customers. Conclusion: stop trying to get new customers. Result: do I even have to spell it out?

But universally in the MBA crowd, engineering is considered a "cost" center, and sales is considered a "profit" center. How, with that kind of insane distortion of reality, can sensible decisions on ROI possibly be made?