Some businesses are run by engineers and are really successful because they solve difficult problems really well. They have sales/marketing people, but their main focus is in engineering. Google is a great example of such a company.

Other businesses are run by businessmen and are really successful because they can sell and market things that other people/businesses are willing to pay a lot of money for. They might have a few coders, but they focus on sales because their business is in exploiting the difference between the value some software brings and the cost it takes to produce the software. Oracle does this, and they're tremendously profitable, too.

Engineers make things. Salespeople get people to pay money for them. They're both necessary, but the importance of each really depends on the industry. It doesn't take a few thousand of the brightest minds in the world to make a mediocre database. And it doesn't take a giant marketing team to sell ad space through an auction.

But if you're going to change the world with new technology, you'll want a company run by engineers. If you're going to exploit a niche in corporate bureaucracy, you'll want lots of sales/business guys.