The Big Three failed because they were so successful and so intricately linked to the employmentstructure of the U.S. economy, that they did not pay attention to their competitive moats.
And since employment is spread across this time structure with relatively few working in final retail stage, savings and investment changes have dramatic impacts on employment.
In addition to being a costly employment policy, tenure also results in a reward structure that is largely misaligned with the interest of the public, as tenure rewards research and public stature, while it punishes teaching.