News of layoffs has stolen headline space for the past week. Beyond the financials, it's tough for the man-on-the-street to rationalise a company's reasons for all this letting people go. All this is happening because markets crashed and banks collapsed in the timeframe of the last two months.
I got a problem with all the knee-jerking thats going on. Yes, the situation is suddenly dire, and managements suddenly step the brakes on everything related to money. Hirings are frozen, lending is frozen, people getting unexpectedly laid off and everyone else not too sure what to do except be thankful for the job they have. It's the kanjiongness at the top I disagree with. Yeah, DBS sort of messed up with some of their products but seriously, laying off 900 people before Christmas and CNY is a human resource slap in the face. NOL announced they made $35 million profit (that's revenue minus operating cost) and are going to lay off 50 people. I would understand if they made zero profit and needed to let people go. In today's paper, the folks in Temasek announce that their cutting salaries by 15-25%. Now guess that's gonna be a reason for all our bosses to enact similar measures. "See, Temasek got do, we also must follow the gahmen." Oh goawd.
Most of what is happening here is an unfortunate result of our dependence on the West, the negative effects washing us out like the waves of a tsunami from far away. We need to look at how Asia can bring itself out of this malaise. We can and we should. China, Japan and India are giants in their own right; Korea and Singapore are among the most technologically wired nations in the world; Indonesia has over 400 million people who are ready to spur the engine of growth in their country; Australia had decided a long time back to look up at Asia and less so across the Pacific. We shouldn't stop being so glum and take charge.
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