“What does it take for a company to make more money for longer than any other?”
Michael Raynor (U. of Nevada) and a colleague studied 45 years worth of data from over 25,000 companies to distill the differences.  They came up with these three rules:
1. Better before cheaper.
2. Revenue before cost.
3. There are no other rules.
Raynor cites examples that help demonstrate how easy it is to break these rules and concludes that “Rules were made to be followed.”