Among the company's motivations to settle before a trial would be to avoid the higher end of that range, which U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier could impose if he ruled the company acted with gross negligence before the well blowout on April 10, 2010, that triggered an explosion, killing 11 workers and spawning the nation's worst offshore oil spill.
Another archetype is more externally oriented, featuring companies that team with outside partners to evaluate a wide range of opportunities, rapidly select the ones to trial and often implement the ideas through these partners.