the.com/quarterly capitalism
running a century-long company by the light of a 90-day flashlight.
means the practice of managing companies to hit short-term quarterly earnings targets, even at the expense of long-term value.
from the term crystallized in the 2010s, popularized by figures like dominic barton and hillary clinton, describing a shift traced to the 1980s when stock-based pay and activist investors made quarterly earnings reports the dominant scoreboard of corporate success.
survey admissioncfos said theyd cut r&d to hit quarterly targets.
buyback boomcompanies spend trillions on stock buybacks over rd.
tenure dropaverage ceo tenure has shrunk over recent decades.
for instance
ge under welch — earnings smoothing made wall street the real boss, 1980s-90s.
boeing 737 max — cost and schedule pressure preceded 2018-19 crashes.
kraft heinz — 3g capital slashed costs for margins, then wrote down billions in 2019.