Other way around IMHO. IBM products have become too expensive for the US Market, so customers are resorting to cheaper and, IMHO inferior, products. IBM's unquestioned position as a leader in Quality is no longer sufficient to keep customers.
he runs into store managers he used to know back in his IBM days. Also a goodly number of the guys he works with now are also former IBMers.
Which only proves that the companies with market "growth" also hire to meet demand.
Is IBM making a mistake by reducing US Operations? Possibly. But I have the distinct impression that IBM is simply completing plans it has been pursueing for quite a long time now. IMHO, IBM will become a foreign entity with a US presence in the next 10 years.
I happen to disagree. The customers till have the same products, they are just seeking better and less expensive tech support. It is not the IBM products that have become too expensive, it is their after purchase services.
Their techs were not only required to provide service, but were required to become sales people as well.
A tech with an impeccable customer satisfaction record would be dinged on performance because of a lack of sales. I know this for a fact, because my husband went through it.