I worked at one of the worlds largest investment companies. Everyone in each group was reviewed and then fit to a bell curve. All compensation, title, and responsibility issues take the bell curve into consideration. This had the effect of making it possible to get fired for being "above average". If you have a group of 5, and they are the best employees in the company (all above average), well, a couple of you will still get, at the least, substandard raises and bonuses or, at the most (generally in times of cutbacks), fired. This is not uncommon for similar companies.