Companies must grow fast and large at all costs due to shareholder pressure, competitiveness and many other factors. This means that short-term profits naturally have priority. It makes much sense, from a short-term profits perspective, to instead lobby politicians and lawyer up - it's the path of least resistance in the current economic reality
The quote is attributed to Soichiro Honda, in the book Driving Honda: Inside the World's Most Innovative Car Company by Jeffrey Rothfeder
Why solve hard problems when you can just lobby your way out of it?