Because the board in older companies usually consists of people with MBAs from expensive schools who just don't get technology (hint: it's not about cutting costs, it's about building technology).
Is that true? here's your chance to get a data point.
Show me which people on HP's board hold MBA's
Andreesen - no mba (http://www.nndb.com/people/442/000022376/)
Apotheker - no mba (http://www.nndb.com/people/417/000253655/)
Babbio - MBA (http://www.nndb.com/people/159/000124784/)
Baldauf - masters in econ (http://www.nndb.com/people/177/000124802/)
Banerji - MBA (http://bx.businessweek.com/kellogg-school-of-management/shum...)
Gupta - MBA (http://www.nndb.com/people/889/000168385/)
Hammergreen - MBA (http://www.nndb.com/people/169/000124794/)
Lane - No MBA (http://www.be.wvu.edu/hall_fame/lane.htm)
Livermore - MBA (http://www.nndb.com/people/763/000128379/)
Renier - MBA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_M._Reiner)
Russo - No MBA (http://www.nndb.com/people/753/000126375/)
Senequier - No MBA (http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2011/110120xa.html)
Thompson - MBA (http://www.nndb.com/people/187/000118830/)
Whitman - MBA (http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2011/110120xa.html)
so, eight of fourteen.
There is no rule that an MBA can't 'get' technology.
It isn't about building technology either, it's about proving something people need and want, and getting them to pay for it. Technology is only a component of that.
HP sells more stuff that people want than almost any other company (printers, desktops, etc.). Yet they're failing.
Successful technology companies (Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Dell, Oracle) have business and technology interwoven like yin and yang. Business fuels technology, technology drives the business. You get there by building your business and your technology hand in hand. If you stop building, you'll fail on both. That's what you don't learn in an MBA.
I read the comment as "an MBA is their only qualification", not "MBAs are inherently incapable of understanding technology".