Inspite of having one of the best brains
1) Management decisions were terrible. Forget the last yr, even 810 fiasco was terrible. Q lost its mojo after that. It was the beginning of the end. Management 101 says when at top, don't rest on laurels. Q did that and the fruit beat it to its knees.
2) Politics- every organization has that , but it was alot more in Q-RTP. Majority of people were from the same organization in Raleigh. They got together in Q. Supported each other and gave each other good bonus + RSUs + promotion, even when the person did not deserve. This broke morale of other employees who busted their a-- for the organization.
3) Greed - Lots of fund misuse. Remember the summer when all the employees got their school kids as interns. Really ? What did that accomplish except for handing out free money.
People organizing lunch meeting, to get free lunch. People misusing dinner even though they did not stay back and left immediately after the dinner.
Funds wasted + politics + bad decisions = recipe for disaster.