Downsizing

Research on downsizing, gender, and race.

Andrew Jordan sat at his desk, absentmindedly watching a barge chug slowly upstream on the Thames. The dinner meeting he had scheduled with a select group of senior managers at Universal Products Company, Ltd. would begin in an hour. For three years, it had seemed enough to focus on the business problems of UPC’s Connectors […]

Conventional wisdom says that layoffs are a necessary evil during economic downturns, but new research shows that shareholders tend to punish companies...

I know, I know. There’s nothing more boring than when bloggers write about their own experiences as a way to make a broader point about life, work, or society. But I hope you’ll indulge me this one time, as I reflect on a small matter of personal improvement and ask what it might say about […]

Five common mistakes to avoid.

Rather than just cut jobs, Ricardo Semler set up workers as private entrepreneurs—in his own factories.

Many U.S. corporations are shedding operations that are doing poorly, are superfluous because of mergers, or are obsolete because of a strategy of streamlining...

The gut-wrenching decision to downsize is usually made a little easier by the belief that at least there’s a purpose to it all: The company will save money and might even improve performance. But a new study indicates that layoffs often prompt demoralized survivors to quit. The resulting unexpected staff shortage can hinder efficiency, and […]

Your company has a plan to survive hard times. Do you?

A CFO wonders how to turn around a struggling division.

Downsizing has always been a popular practice in the corporate world - even for firms not in distress. But today, with many companies in distress, downsizing...

The U.S. economy has been on the upswing for more than four years. Inflation is low, corporate profits are up, and the stock market has risen beyond anyone's...

Many cling to the idea that reducing staff is the fastest, easiest way to cut costs. But there are smarter, more humane approaches.

Big companies formerly took a reputational hit when they laid off massive numbers of workers. But according to E. Geoffrey Love and Matthew Kraatz, of the University of Illinois, U.S. business culture norms gradually changed from 1985 to 1994 as new ideas about boosting shareholder value took hold in executive suites and boardrooms. At the […]

Many managers have never before had to shrink their operations or workforces drastically. Now, as they struggle to weather the storm of recession, they...

The trend is to downsize corporate headquarters--but sometimes a bigger HQ is better.

Drawing on extensive research of Fortune 500 companies that have lived through industry downturns and economic recessions over the past two decades, Darrell...

How do you reduce headcount when almost everyone gets the same scores on performance reviews? HR vice president Nils Ekdahl confronts that question at...

If your firm has downsized recently, you're now managing a bunch of survivors - the lucky ones who didn't get laid off. But good fortune doesn't make...

Drawing on extensive research of Fortune 500 companies that have lived through industry downturns and economic recessions over the past two decades, Darrell...