It would be nice if there were never any layoffs,but you can't have greater productivity and same amount of people unless you expand business. Some say it is greed but it really comes down to profit. You can't operate in red.
Heres a classic example I read recently.
"Let me give you a real world example. Last year, it was revealed through divorce proceedings that former General Electric CEO Jack Welch (search) was recipient of all sorts of lavish perks that even thee most ardent capitalist would have to concede were a little ridiculous. The revelation only confirmed the biases of those already critical of Welch, who began his tenure at GE by laying off close to 100,000 people, and whose management style put, to borrow a phrase, ?profits over people.? Welch has never been accused of fraud or deceit -- he?s no Ken Lay. But rather, Welch for some has come to epitomize the excesses of capitalism, profiteering and greed.
On the far-other end of the spectrum is Aaron Feuerstein (search). Feuerstein was CEO of the Malden Mills company, a clothing outfitter in Massachusetts. In 1995, three of Malden Mills? main factories burned to the ground. Feuerstein vowed not only to rebuild those factories, he vowed to rebuild them in a manner that was more worker-friendly and more environmentally friendly than the previous plants, no matter the cost. Feuerstein also vowed to continue to pay his 3,000 workers at full salary until those plants were rebuilt.
Feuerstein was beatified by media and politicians everywhere for his good deed. He got a seat at Bill Clinton?s State of the Union address. He was awarded honorary degrees from universities across the country. He was flatteringly profiled on 60 Minutes.
In November of 2001, Malden Mills declared bankruptcy. Feuerstein?s vow to rebuild the company?s factories on borrowed money while continuing to pay every employee ran Malden Mills into the ground. His benevolence nearly cost 3,000 people their livelihood. Instead of short-term hardship endured while the factories were rebuilt, those people nearly lost their jobs completely.
I say ?nearly? because there?s a somewhat happy ending to the story. Malden Mills was saved, thanks in part to a last-minute investment by an outfit called GE Capital. GE Capital is of course owned by General Electric, a company that under the ?ruthless? leadership of Jack Welch grew from a maker of refrigerators into the kind of multinational behemoth that can spin off venture capital subsidiaries, which can then invest in struggling companies like Malden Mills.
I?m sure the 100,000 or so people Jack Welch laid off to streamline GE in the early 1980s still don?t think much of him. But his leadership eventually replaced those jobs several times over.
And the 1,200 people who work at Malden Mills today owe their jobs not to Aaron Feuerstein's kindness but to Jack Welch's greed. "