The best architectures of past have all been for naught. PARC failed to recoup its full investment. Apple has not prospered. It seems that the companies that invested in meaningful software architecture have all declined. Before concluding that architectural projects are the cause of this decline, I urge you to look a bit further.
Architecture is a big investment.
Companies that make big investments are usually successful companies, acting sensibly to become more successful in the future. Xerox's decline was not the result of its architecture, but of the success that paid for that architecture. The main beneficiaries of this patented technology were Cannon, Sharp, Minolta and a host of small Asian printer and copier companies. Similarly, the success that enabled IBM to develop the 360 and SNA, also set off anti-trust action against it. Cloning is stealing someone else's intellectual property, something that is specifically illegal in most of the world.