They then push this down, and some really weird stuff happens in the middle, like increasing sales goals by 10% while simultaneously reducing R&D budgets by 10%. This kind of thing is especially true in tech, in a product that may only have a time horizon left of 5 years or so.
Chaos ensues.
To the C-suite, it makes sense. That division is a legacy division. They will sunset eventually. So, reduce their budget for the future. Meanwhile, what they have is a great product, so another 10% of sales this year should be no big deal, right?
After it gets down to the boots on the ground, it is chaotic. Layoffs. No budget for test equipment. Totally unreasonable schedules. Etc. It takes a very large human toll and people do some weird things.