We were tasked to site a website of a company who had undergone HR downsizing....
and here's what I've got...

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Downsizing is reducing numbers of labor force in a certain industry. Another term for it is lay off. Downsizing is a strategic action of a company in order to save the industry. There are certain reasons why companies slash employees out in the payroll even if it means losing of jobs of other workers, it may be for the purpose of saving the industry from dropping or may be for development purposes.

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SKorea's Samsung Electronics sheds 1,600 jobs
Nov 17, 2007

Samsung is the world's largest producer of memory chips, has shed more than 1,600 workers on November last year, the first fall in its labour force since 2002.

Data reported to financial authorities show the number of Samsung employees was 85,269 in September, down 1,630 or 1.9 percent from the 86,899 reported six months earlier.The downsizing is the first at Samsung Electronics since 2002, when the company cut about 700 employees.

Yonhap news agency said the cut was a prelude to a "full-scale corporate restructuring" at Samsung Electronics, which is suffering from falling memory chip and flat-panel prices.

"Some 500 to 800 staff quit here seasonally because high school graduates want to go to colleges. The 1,600 is more than usual but it has nothing to do with the corporate downsizing," spokesman James Chung
of Samsung told AFP.

There have been rumors that the South Korean company wants to downsize since July, when it launched a voluntary retirement scheme.

Samsung Electronics has reported that its net profit in the third quarter to September this year recovered to the level a year earlier on brisk demand despite low semiconductor prices.

Net profit for the July-September period stood at 2.19 trillion won (2.39 billion dollars), about the same as a year earlier, it said.

But the company reported a five percent drop year-on-year in net profit during the second quarter to June, due to falling chip prices. It earned 1.42 trillion won during April-June, the lowest in four years for that period.


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There are certain issues why an industry, small or large scale had to cut-off its labor force. Even the Samsung Electronics which is the world's largest IT industry had to undergone into it. Samsung had to cut it's labor force for the improvement of the industry and it's products to make it more profitable. Another reason of its downsizing is the seasonal phenomena which is likely normal because some of the workers works only in a season for example summer.




sources:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ibdWCnmlcvlSeKhTnN4GKAA9GsRQ
http://samsung.com/


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imagine that??? even samsung which is the World's largest IT industry had experienced downsizing....
I believe that no matter how tough an Industry is... no matter how good who runs the industry is... I think there is only one thing that cant be avoided and that is changes... and downsizing is one of the effects of it.. To survive an industry needs to sacrifice to survive... even if it means lossing a portion of its labor force.

hmmmmm..... I think this HRm would help students like me to realize what the real world means... It is to go with the flow. Adapt to the environment and compete to the fullest to survive.. the world ahead us is not a a playground anymore. It is a fast-changing world that we should have to go through...


Am I too exagerate?????lol....duh! At least I've learned.... :)