"Spend money to make money" is diametrically opposed to the entrepreneurial idea that you don't need to spend money to make money, you realize. There are, in fact, two major divisions of how businesses are run, even if it's not formally recognized. There are businesses that focus solely on the idea of spending money to make money (ie. their focus is all on getting as much money as possible), and there are businesses which focus on NOT spending money to make money (ie. their focus is on being as profitable as possible).
The fact of the matter is that businesses do tend to focus almost exclusively on either the top line or bottom line of their balance sheets in regards to money. While it's nice to say that all businesses aim for a profit (and it is true), the reality of the matter is that not all businesses understand HOW to increase profit. Many think that increasing revenue will automatically increase profit, which isn't true at all if the cost of generating the revenue is greater than the revenue generated.
Like many, you're in the idealist trap where all businesses are competently run and have no flaws in their financial reasoning. This is not and never has been the case. Businesses are schizophrenic affairs, with varying levels of understanding throughout individual institutions on how financial matters work. And worse, many of the accounting departments of these firms either are run by people who don't understand how money works, or are rendered impotent by other departments. The former is an issue of poor education (which is surprisingly and disappointingly common), and the latter is an issue of poor administration (which is also surprisingly and disappointingly common).
Sky Render - Sanity is for the weak.
