Interesting article about how PARC kept the concept of Laser Printing alive and developed it for Xerox, after Xerox’s own exec staff was killing off the idea. The author brings up a good point that that invention alone would have covered alot of PARC’s costs to Xerox. It points out that having a good research arm is important for long term growth, and that it needs to be insulated from the exec branch of the company.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2015/03/21/how-parc-saved-xerox/