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I would say most companies are not rich enough to realize it. Bell had a monopoly in its day, and it therefore didn't need to worry about competition. Nor did it have to worry about maximizing shareholder profit. Both have their relative virtues, but neither promotes research. It's another reason why basic science, in our day and age, has to be almost exclusively the purview of federal funding agencies.Marketable products will always result from science. NASA and Bell Labs are the best examples of this. Most private companies are just too short-sighted to realize it.