The only difference is that you see this mercenary behavior as a self-destructive abberation and rare. I see economic pressures that make it a temptation that is hard to resist, and more likely to arise.

If I owned a business I would be much more concerned with its long-term viability and reputation than with short term profits. I would also have other concerns besides sheer profitability; once my own financial success and future security were assured. But if I were a hired executive, uinder pressure from stockholders and the board to increase profits in a highly competitive market, I might go for the short term gain and say to hell with next year. Especially if I had negotiated a sweet golden parachute deal when I got hired.

There are other factors at work, too. Businesses not only compete for customers, they also compete for capital. You can be a profitable and successful business, but investors want to maximize their return and if you are not profitable enough you may find it hard to get money for growth and improvements. In today's fluid and automated investment environment, your investors are only interested in your short term profits, not your long term survival as a company. For an executive, this means it doesn't matter how well you did last year, this year the stockholders (also trading professionals with no interest in the company's long term viability) just want more.

In a related example, there is a chain of supermarkets where I live which used to be a pleasure to shop at. As far as I know, none were going broke, and they had pretty much run their competition out of business. But now, they are starting to shut down their least profitable stores and keep their biggest money-makers open. Presumably they are investing in other businesses with the money they save. The result for the consumers is that the stores are always overcrowded, always understocked, the staff is overworked and surly, the management visibly harried and under stress, and the "shopping experience" is the pits. For a competitor to take advantage of this is unlikely, these "stupormarkets" are dysfunctional but highly efficient and it would take an enormous initial investment for a rival chain to set up shop and challenge them.