Cost cutting... Is it being done correctly? Who to blame?

Every time recession hits market we start seeing so many people loosing jobs. This happens across business domains.

Every single person; from a clerk to the CEO, everyone know that such rough phase is going to come periodically irrespective of what business they are in. What kind of planning is done by the leaders (CEOs, VPs, …) to handle those situations? I see very less enterprise globally who manage their good-bad phase without (or minimal) people layoff. Who is to blame for this? Let me ask another question – Who takes the most credit for all or most business success?

I understand that everyone does business for profit. My only problem is that business houses start firing people too early. Instead, I feel they must take additional measures. I don’t think head count could be one of top factors that save lot of money for an enterprise.

Examples:

-          You can save much more by using better technologies, solutions, and processes than what you save by firing people.

-          One business trip of 1 top executive in many cases could cost more than a month’s salary of an employee who is fired.

I am not one of top executives who are involved in taking enterprise wide decisions and business strategies but from where I see – I clearly see major gaps. I know it may be simple to write but definitely not simple to implement.

Many times its pure situation due to which layoff is done; but many times I also see people loosing jobs because of their leaders.

Related post (Leverage technology for cost cutting): https://www.finextra.com/blogs/fullblog.aspx?blogid=1656