A lot of the time when this type of thing comes from on high it really is actually a good move for the C suite and for shareholders in the short term. I'm saying this as if I know anything about the topic, I don't, but I have read about this.

CEOs that flight from company to company, brought in to be the saviour and increase profits a bajillion percent just like they promised, often have a bag of tricks of classic moves that aren't actually all that genius or clever but will, initially at least, appear to improve the bottom line. They may have obvious consequences which is why such an obvious move wasn't made before, but if they can ride the crest of the wave of initially positive results they can exit just in time to leave the place seemingly better off than before they arrived knowing full well it's all about to implode.