Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Cringely Predicts IBM Will Shed 78% of US Employees By 2015

Posted by timothy on from the should-switch-to-fashion-branding-with-cool-logo dept.

Third Position writes "Cringely with more predictions about IBM: 'The direct impetus for this column is IBM's internal plan to grow earnings-per-share (EPS) to $20 by 2015. The primary method for accomplishing this feat, according to the plan, will be by reducing U.S. employee head count by 78 percent in that time frame.' So far, Cringely's pronouncements about IBM have been approximately true, even if he missed the exact numbers and timeframes. Is he right this time?"

5 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. Brilliant! by Moheeheeko · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We need to make the company more profitable. Lets put out a quality product everyone will need to have.....ehh fuck it thats too hard, get HR on the line.

    1. Re:Brilliant! by Megane · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Do they have to report it as "layoffs" when they sell off entire business units to other companies?

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
    2. Re:Brilliant! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Nortel went through that stripping itself off profitable business units that were not making as much money as they want.

      I guess they haven't figured that the management division was the prime under-performing department except at the end when the filed for bankruptcy.

    3. Re:Brilliant! by dubl-u · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because business school also trains them to minimize costs and maximize quarterly profits. And their managers and stockholders reward them for that as well. Which inevitably leads to that behavior and a bunch of other idiotic ones. Because as you demonstrate with the bit about fixed costs, a lot of these numbers are fictions. Sometimes convenient fictions, but always fictions.

      This is in contrast to the Lean approach where one minimizes waste and maximizes value delivered to the end user. In Lean thinking, staff aren't a cost to be shed ASAP, they're an asset, one you invest in.

  2. Probably Wrong by elbonia · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Considering the fact that most of his big predictions are completely wrong why believe he's right? When did Apple buy out Time Warner Cable? How about Facebook forking and going against LinkedIn. Or Apple’s white iPhone 4 would be the Verizon iPhone 4?

    What kind of predictions does he get right? Software will crash and Google will be the new Microsoft and Microsoft will be the new IBM.

    http://www.cringely.com/tag/2011-predictions/