The corporation was willing to let Mr Urry exercise his judgement, it took the risk of paying him while knowing that it might not pan out. Too many Canadian businesses even now what guaranteed output from those lucky employees who are retained. Bear in mind that the US now is further down the slope of outsourcing jobs, including engineering design jobs, to cheaper labour markets than Canada is! What is described in the article is a US which became great by taking chances and investing. Trump just won an election by posturing that he would bring jobs back onshore in the US - let's see what actually happens with a President who has business interests globally nad has a Cabinet stacked with leaders of global corporations.