zlacker

>>fancy_+(OP)
The strangest part to me about the current trends: why do all these business leaders all do the same things at the same time? E.g. Layoffs + micromanagement + cost focus etc... Is this truly about macroeconomic forces that every business is responding to? Or is it just following the latest fad?

There seems to be significant opportunity to zig as others zag. Imagine the Intel letter saying "we are going to take advantage of the current hiring environment to scoop up talent, and push forward on initiatives."

>>johnga+ec
"If everyone is doing {unpopular thing} then we can do {unpopular thing} and not get bad PR from it."

Layoffs and cost focus are two of those. There's also additional pressure from major shareholders (institutional) to reduce opex, even if the better strategy would sometimes be to stretch for some strategic goal when everyone else is contracting. Your stock is going to take a hit in the short term.

Lastly, some is just the "yell harder" mentality kicking in for management that doesn't actually know what to do.