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Human resources and labor relations

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Response to Haar's comment - and the beat goes on: corporate downsizing in the twenty-first century

Article Abstract:

Haar is mistaken when he assumes that the inclusion of risk-adjusted measures would change the results of the 1994 study on the effect of layoffs on financial performance. A review of the original analysis reveals that if risk measures were incorporated, the results would still lead to the conclusion that downsizing is rarely an effective strategy for improving the financial performance of corporations. The review, which incorporates Haar's suggestion that companies be sorted out according to their beta scores, also reveals that the findings of researchers such as Cascio (1998), De Meuse (1994), and McKinley (1995) were not skewered by the omission of risk in their analyses. Future researchers are welcome to test the assumptions of both the 1994 study and the 1999 review.

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Comment on "Announced lay-offs: their effect on corporate financial performance

Article Abstract:

De Meuse, Vanderheiden and Bergmann (1994) reported that their analysis of published financial data had led them to conclude that lay-offs do not necessarily lead to improved financial performance. Their findings, however, were undermined by the limitations of their methodology. The main problem with their analysis lies in their failure to sort out and adjust financial performance by the degree of risk, leading to the lumping together of firms with different betas. Since a beta score is a measure of the extent to which the return of an investment is driven by market forces, the failure of De Meuse et al to create risk-adjusted performance measures has led to the introduction of interfirm comparisons of return that have little meaning.

Models, Risk assessment

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Downsizing outcomes: better a victim than a survivor?

Article Abstract:

Outcomes experienced by both victims and survivors involved in a major downsizing program present a model of downsizing stress is analyzed. It was indicated with the help of results that displaced employees, or 'victims', who secure new employment are far better than survivors.

United States, Evaluation, Influence, Workers

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