Inflexible military thinking in industry

The view that war is too important to leave to the generals is justified by their performances in corporate directorships or executive positions. Many generals, admirals and other military leaders retire to industry for prestigious positions. However, not only do they lack any conception of astute use of scarce economic resources in the private sector, having been accustomed to governmental waste and inefficiency, but they have a limited ability, relative to the career business man, to understand the profusion of economic data which business bases its decisions on. They are frequently in a position of vacillation between issuing peremptory and premature executive orders of the military variety, or of entrenchment in defensive positions. They have little, if any, conception of the 'long march' of business, or even of the guerrilla warfare over competitive prices and market share. They view long-range planning in business as academic theorizing and even though the world is changing all around them, their thinking remains traditionalist and isolated. It is the Maginot Line mentality under the officers cap, the only strategy being the megalith of the single answer of 'more': more capital in industry; more weapons in defence. For this reason, they function well as salesmen and lobbyists for the arms industries whom they so often join in retirement.