What does the news that Micosoft are making 5% of its UK workforce redundant (http://www.paidcontent.co.uk/entry/419-microsoft-laying-off-five-percent-of-uk-staff-in-global-cutbacks/) signify for the outlook of the digital economy? Is it something that should send us all into blind panic or is it just another example of the rather cruel metaphor of a giant of a company simply “shaving off some of the fat”.
Will Microsoft now release 5% less software, will they be 5% less productive, and will the retail price of their products drop by 5%? With a company the size of Microsoft none of these scenarios could possible ever be realized and the main outcome of this culling will probably be a PowerPoint page showing a reduction in overhead costs of x dollars over y years meaning z bonus for whichever financial wizz kid worked out that sacking people makes a company more efficient.
I may be naïve but aren’t Microsoft a massively rich corporation who must almost be a micro-economy in their own right and don’t they say on their website as part of their mission (http://www.microsoft.com/about/default.mspx) that “Every successful corporation has a responsibility to use its resources and influence to make a positive impact on the world and its people.” Dropping thousands of staff because the balance sheet is looking a bit ropey isn’t, to my mind, using all of its resource and influence to make a positive impact.