Beleaguered Microsoft’s strategy: Fire thousands of employees and then what?

“This is not a very good time to be working at Microsoft. Typical of companies in trouble, Microsoft has announced plans to give some 18,000 employees pink slips over the next few months,” Gene Steinberg writes for The Tech Night Owl. “Most of the lost jobs, some 12,500, will consist of professional and factory employees connected with the $7.2 billion purchase of Nokia… The rest of the 5,500 firings will come from other departments in Microsoft. With 127,000 total employees as of last month, this means that Microsoft is shedding some 14% of its global workforce.”

“It’s not certain where [CEO Satya Nadella] will go. It’s not that he seems to have a clear vision that will fix what’s wrong. Maybe it is no longer devices and services, but mobile, services and productivity, but how does that translate to making Microsoft relevant in the twilight of the PC era? How does that convince people to buy Surface tablets, and Windows Phones?” Steinberg writes. “Indeed, does the acquisition of Nokia’s handset division really accomplish anything but put thousands of people on the unemployment lines? Indeed, the media is so immersed in numbers of abstracts, that the actual human tragedy of this maneuver is being given short shrift. When you think of employment rolls dropping by 18,000, it means that 18,000 people will no longer have paychecks to feed their families and pay the mortgage.”

“Microsoft has made a move that may seem perfectly logical to the bean counters who look at dollars and cents and efficiencies,” Steinberg writes. “It may well be that it was truly necessarily to cut 18,000 people from the payroll to get the company moving forward again. But if this decision is to make sense, it would have to be followed by a clear and cogent plan to set things right.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: According to CEO Nadella, Microsoft, with “bold ambition” is going to “maximize the value of technology while also preserving the values that are timeless” because “Microsoft has a unique ability to harmonize the world’s devices, apps, docs, data and social networks in digital work and life experiences so that people are at the center and are empowered to do more.”

“Microsoft will light up digital work and life experiences in the most personal, intelligent, open and empowering ways” because “they have clarity in purpose to empower every individual and organization to do more and achieve more.” And empower them. Empoweringly. With empowerment.

Sheesh, isn’t is obvious where Microsoft wants to go today?

All the way down the shitter. 🙂

Related articles:
Beleaguered Microsoft employees ‘shell shocked’ at size of layoffs – July 18, 2014
Beleaguered Microsoft’s 18,000 layoffs the beginning of a painful attempt to clean up Ballmer’s mess, says Street – July 17, 2014
Beleaguered Microsoft to axe up to 18,000 employees over the next year – July 17, 2014
Beleaguered Microsoft CEO lays groundwork for mass layoffs, yet another rearrangement of the deck chairs – July 11, 2014
Beleaguered Microsoft’s Windows Phone: Dead as a doornail – July 9, 2014
Apple is well on its way to devastating Microsoft – July 7, 2014