It takes 5-8 years to come up with truly original ideas and then to bring them to fruition. Given that the average tenure at CFO/CEO is 5 years, that leaves little room for the long view.
It took the founders of Instagram less than two years to get a $1 billion bid from Facebook
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instagram . Whether Instagram's product is "truly original" is arguable, but when people see wealth created so quickly, time horizons may be shortened. In general, someone with a very good idea can monetize it faster than 5-8 years , which is a good thing IMO.
