How to survive a corporate merger: engineers offer varied advice, based on their own experiences

Article Abstract:

High technology companies are seemingly affected daily by new mergers and acquisitions with the resulting layoffs, consolidations of staff, and reorganizations. When General Electric Co purchased RCA Corp, the companies had 292,000 and 87,000 employees, respectively. After the consolidation, GE had only 255,000 employees. What can an engineer do if his or her company is involved in a merger? Eleven engineers whose employers were merged, purchased, or sold are questioned about their first reactions, what they did to keep their jobs or find new ones, and what they have learned in retrospect. Some of the tips they provide include: pay attention to rumors about impending company sales; plan for the worst; expect uncertainty and tension; and maintain a sense of perspective. If fired, you will find another job, perhaps an even better one.

Layoffs, Layoff, Personnel Problems, Companies, Acquisition, Merger, Takeovers

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Milestones

Article Abstract:

The major events, inventions, discoveries, developments and successes of the last 25 years in electrical engineering are listed by year and briefly described. Examples include: the 1963 founding of the IEEE, the 1963 formation of COMSAT, the 1964 introduction of the IBM System 360 mainframe, the 1969 onset of UNIX development, the 1971 first sale of the Intel 4004 microprocessor, the 1974 advent of the BBC's Ceefax teletext service, the 1977 breakthrough of microcomputers, Ethernet in 1980, the 1981 launch of the space shuttle Columbia, higher temperature superconductor developments in 1986, and the 1988 introduction of personal supercomputers. A variety of social-political events are also noted to put the technological events in temporal perspective.

Industrial research, High technology, Electrical engineering, Computer history, Research and Development, Trends, Survey, Achievements and Awards, History of Computing

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How computers helped stampede the stock market

Article Abstract:

Computerized program trading was a factor in accelerating the stock market crash of Oct 1987. Investors use a computerized trading strategy to profit from the difference in price between a group of stocks and the stock-index futures or options on those same stocks. The various strategies - not the computers - amplify market swings. Most brokers use networked workstations or minicomputers. On Oct 19, 1987, most computers issued simultaneous orders to sell portfolios of stock. With not buyers for the enormous volume of stock, prices fell further. Because of the rapid price decline, computers could not predict the effect of any trade on a stock's price. The SEC will issue a report on the causes of the market plunge.

Security and commodity exchanges, Regulation misc. commercial sectors, Wall Street, Automation, United States. Securities and Exchange Commission, Social conditions, Program trading (Securities), Stock markets, Industry Analysis, Social Issue, Stock Market, technical

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