Exec MBA Search Exec. Now their entire workforces are paying the price. In a few cases, new corporate regimes are even blaming the economy for downsizings that result from their decision to change the direction of a company. The people who are mandating layoffs tend to pooh-pooh the idea that anything but the economy is to blame. However, staffing experts and Wall Street professionals say the official story isn't necessarily the full story.
Some analysts think they've seen such a strategy at Palm, maker of the eponymous handhelds.
He also warned that fiscal fourth-quarter demand for Palm products would be flat and that the company would post a net loss of about 8 cents a share for the period. In addition to layoffs, Palm announced a delay in building its new corporate headquarters in San Jose and asked all its employees, including top execs, to fly coach when traveling on company business. It is really to align our business model with the downturn in the economy and with the reduced expectations that we have. Even so, analyst Thomas Sepenzis at CIBC World Markets views the layoffs as partly a way for Palm to separate the wheat from the chaff. I think they could have kept the employees on and ridden this out.