And big engineering companies need such cash to be able to survive glitches or downturns. In that case, Alstom was brought to its knees by problems on its new gas turbines (purchased from ABB with probably not enough due diligence, but that's another issue) which required it to pay massive penalties to clients.
With the cash, it would still have had the problems, but would have survived the episode. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
