Mornings were quite brimming with `activity' - kolahalam. There were a dozen of them-each one of them must rush out of the house either to catch a bus or a local train or a pooled-taxi-all by 8 a.m. For ladies, it was a real dance on the razor's edge; serve breakfast to children and office-going men; pack lunch boxes for all, including themselves; and in between, squeeze out time to eat their breakfast. Suddenly, a discordant note was struck in those action-filled mornings: One of them was laid-off. Ripples of `recession' rocked the family. It was the others who were more haunted and muted by the fear of losing jobs.
In the recent past, downsizing has become an extremely sought after strategy among businesses to stay fit in the competitive markets. It is expected to cut costs and make their products more `price-competitive', particularly in the international markets. It has become a common practice, particularly among the multinationals or companies aspiring to be multinationals, for varied reasons: The scare of increased competition from global players and the resultant need for price-competitiveness; changing technologies that have profoundly impacted the role of labor in the overall business processes; spectacular innovations in the `enabling-technologies' that have completely revolutionized the way businesses are carried out; the craze for availing `comparative advantage' even in labor costs, etc. Against this backdrop, the present article attempts to discus what downsizing is all about; its flipside, how it impacts economy, and what needs to be done for combating it. |
