Maybe that's the strength of business. It doesn't have to actually succeed to appear successful.

Unlike less market-driven fields (I find myself struggling to imagine what fields i am thinking of here though...),in which a measure of fidelity to a collectively understood definition of success is expected. Ie; if you are a doctor and you can't improve peoples health you are not succeeding(yes I Know with big pharma that's a stretch), if you are an academic and no-one engages with or argues your positions then you are not a success in the eyes of the collectivity of academia.

Business manages to make up these totally improbably fictions (venture capital anyone) and turn them into facts. You can take absolute bullshit and put a patina on it in business without having to resort to even imperfect empiricism.