IBM: #5 on the "Biggest Business Blunders of 2009" List

Business Blunders of the Year
Introducing the B-List: The 77 stupidest managerial moves and worst business blunders of 2009.
By Adam Horowitz and David Jacobson

Stupid. Managerial. Move. I could not have said it more simply nor better.

IBM is Number 5 on the list.

This refers to the "Project Match" program. I think this is widely recognized both inside and outside IBM as a blunder. Some have used harsher language. I called it a "cold slap in the face" on two of my radio interviews. Some call it an insult. Some call it irony. All (except IBM management) call it just plain wrong.

Comments were spot on. Robert Salomon at Seeking Alpha called it "funny" and "from the humor category." It's hardly humorous if you were one of those laid off.

This from the bnet site itself, by "tramky":

Re: 5) IBM layoffs. This is the worst of them all because of what it shows of corporate America, and is representative of the important things that are wrong with this country today. One of the wrong things is corporate America, which has no loyalty to anything or anyone. More American corporations are comprised of low-life creeps and liars who care about nothing.My stomach turns over when I get near the office building of an American corporation. The last one I left was that of Worldcom after they filed bankruptcy and tossed thousands of employees and billions of dollars down the sewer.This IBM story is a really bad one, sickening in fact. Makes one want to puke. A formerly great company--decades ago--reduced to pond scum.

Creeps. Liars. Scum. Hey, that may not be language I would use, but then who am I to argue ?

100 Best Companies to work for

The latest list of the top 100 companies to work for is out today. IBM is once again missing from the list. Gee. What a surprise (*snark*).

The last time IBM made the list was back in 2003, when they ranked #38.

Tech job cuts hit 4-year high

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Planned job cuts at tech companies rose in 2009 for the second straight year, hitting the highest level in four years, according to a report released Tuesday.

Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. reported that tech sector employers announced 174,629 job cuts in 2009. That's a 12.3% increase from cuts announced in 2008, and the highest total since 2005.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Many large and small tech companies do not even announce job cuts. The 175,000 was just announced job cuts. IBM never announced, but they cut 10,000 jobs in 2009. And, small companies are excluded from the WARN laws, so they don't even need to announce.