Normally the development engineer has been given an objective for things like power output, and the engine has to pass a durability test that is standardised by that engine company and seldom changes. If somebody in Marketing decided that it would be good to advertise 50:1 petrol to oil, the engineer would look at his design, say "Hmm" a couple of times, possibly make a design change or two, then run the durability test at 50:1 to see what happened. If it passes the test, Marketing wants to do it, and it doesn't cost any more so Finance doesn't object, it's a done deal. Occasionally in small companies like Victa the engineer will run it as a sort of private project for some new model then ask Marketing if they would like to advertise it, after he's made it work. Marketing will not automatically agree, because then it becomes embarrassing if some of their other models or future projects can't reach the same standard.
To make a higher petrol to oil ratio work, you need to have lower-than-normal friction loads on the sliding surfaces. Experienced engineers normally know where the weak links in the chain are, and they can concentrate on those bits if they are trying to reduce the amount of oil. However it should be, and usually is, a planned project to move in that direction: Marketing, Engineering and Finance have to agree to do it, and then it becomes a part of the project specification that the engineer has to meet.
