So forgetting about politics or trade unions, even free trade capitalism sets the bar here. If a company's product isn't as good as its competition, it is at a disadvantage. The company can sell on reputation and cultivated image, but that fades quick when its product gets stomped. That doesn't happen very quickly because people are slow to change and move out of their comfort zones. But when a trend starts, it usually snowballs. Maybe in the past, a company could hang on to the status quo for a few years, but today, it cannot. So I think that sitting smugly on an old product in a technology oriented market is not good.