Posted on 05/31/2007 2:16:17 PM PDT by Zakeet
Dell Inc. said Thursday that earnings fell slightly in preliminary first-quarter results, but the computer maker planned to lay off more than 8,000 employees over the next year as part of an ongoing restructuring.
Dell said it earned $759 million, or 34 cents per share, in the three months ended May 4. That compared with $762 million, or 33 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
First-quarter sales rose nearly 1 percent from the year ago period to $14.6 billion.
[Snip]
The layoffs, which represent 10 percent of Dell's global work force of 88,100 full time and part-time employees, come as Dell struggles to regain market share after Hewlett-Packard Co. ousted it from the top spot in worldwide computer shipments last year.
In the first quarter, HP kept its lead over Dell with about 4 percent more shipments, according to tech research firms IDC and Gartner Inc.
As part of an ongoing turnaround effort led by Michael Dell, the company has undergone an executive shake up and numerous other changes to improve customer service and reclaim market share.
The company said it was reviewing costs across the board and that the job cuts would vary across geographic regions and customer segments to "reflect business considerations as well as local legal requirements."
"While reductions in head count are always difficult for a company, we know these actions are critical to our ability to deliver unprecedented value to our customers now and in the future," Michael Dell said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The company I work for has not one but two Indian software development centers. They have 10x the number of stateside engineers, yet their output is 1/20 the American output. I don't doubt that you've met some fine Indian engineers, but it's been my experience that they're few and far between.
If they are so cheap and inexpensive to purchase why in hell are their profits down, and why are they laying off 8,000 Americans?
I have yet to repeat “huh” more than once or twice, probably because I have ears that work and as I said earlier they tend to be polite, competent, and eager to help solve whatever issue I have.
And frankly almsot all of the parts for those cheap pieces of garbage are made overseas, which is why you can buy a PC for 500 dollars. Personally I build my own computers so I don’t deal with tech support staff except at work or with a new piece of equipment.
What computer are you using right now? If its prebuilt I can tell you that most of the parts came from the same industrial belt in China or the phillipines.
Don’t talk about buying American for computers unless you’ve got a three thousand dollar piece of equipement made from a high end vendor.
That's the problem! American's can't hear!
Dude....you’re getting layed off!!!
Because even though components are much cheaper now all the big prebuilt companies are fighting a price war to drive their competitors out of bussiness.
Prices fall but quality suffers and even then they have to squeeze to get any margin out of those things at all. Go through a mock order on dell and see how they push accessories, ink, and service plans and the like. That’s the only way they make money. I wouldn’t be suprised if you bought a prebuilt box barebones with nothing else dell would be losing a significant amount of money.
It costs less to set up a tech center in India than the U.S. Hence, it brings the company’s operating costs down.
It’s the same moronic complaint I hear on thread after thread. People want quality, but are unwilling (or unable) to pay for it. They complain about cheap crap from China, yet do nothing to support U.S. businesses.
Shoes, for instance. Two shoemakers in the U.S. — Alden and Allen Edmonds — make the finest mens shoes anywhere. Given proper care, they will last a lifetime. A pair costs between $300 and $500. Do people buy them in any quantity? No, because they’d rather buy 10 pairs of cheap Chinese shoes for $60 apiece over several years from the Chinese
In my experience the tech support became brain dead about 10 years ago, and the language barrier is just an added inconvenience. The tech people take you through teh same basic steps no matter what your problem, and they don't understand the system. The answer is either written down for them or it isn't.
If they are so cheap and inexpensive to purchase, and they are passing this savings onto the consumers, why in hell are their profits down, and why are they laying off 8,000 Americans?
If they are so cheap and inexpensive to purchase why in hell are their profits down, and why are they laying off 8,000 Americans?
Because they rode the wave up at a time when everyone was buying a computer and now they’re riding it down in a “replacement”/”upgrade” market.
Looks like Austin is about to be flooded with unemployed. The bars in Round Rock are going to clean up tonight; lots of people drinking their sorrows away.
Exactly, I think when one gets one of the outsourced techs it is time to refuse to talk to them and ask for an American. Maybe that will wake them up
I had no idea people were no longer purchasing these quality computers at these reduced prices.
Well they are now going to sell their computers at Walmart so my guess is they are going 100% Chinese :)
Absolutely.
Because they rode the wave up at a time when everyone was buying a computer and now they’re riding it down in a “replacement”/”upgrade” market.
And if this is true, why didn't the geniuses at DELL see this coming? Were they too busy counting their profits from their Indian support centers?
Support has always been an expensive proposition for tech companies.
Everyone who could afford and wanted a computer over the last ten years pretty much has one. The industry is now in a replacement/upgrade mode. The problem is, there isn’t any new whiz-bang technology capable of spurring huge numbers of people to go out and upgrade.
I don’t buy $500 shoes for the same reason I don’t buy a Bentley...I can’t afford it. If I can’t get American-made shoes for under $100 then there’s a problem.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.