The concept is similar to employee's leaving to start their own company but their former employer funds the endeavor and often has a right of first refusal for a sale.
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-cisco-showered-three-men-...
This acquisition driven R&D worked well for Cisco, it doesn't always, see former Canadian company Nortel for the down side of acquisition driven growth.
As a side note, check out John Chambers some time. Common wisdom is that the CEO of a tech company should be a technologist. He is the exception to this rule. He was an amazing CEO who didn't have a strong technical background. In my opinion, one of the more impressive tech CEO's of the 90's and 2000's.
http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/high-tech/our-insights/ci...