The other side of the cash flow game is that you can be cash flow positive most of the time... but go out of business if you face occasional, large often complicated fixed costs. A robust accounting and pricing model is needed to plan for those fixed costs. It's like picking up pennies in front of a steamrolller if you only focus on short term cash flow.

The other interesting example of cash flow games is Warren Buffet's focus on insurance. He really likes picking up people's premium payments and collecting interest on them until the claims hit. My limited understanding is that Buffet looks for those situations specifically.