Was Microsoft determined to lay off its jobs at the start of Nokia's acquisition?

Microsoft has officially announced that it will lay off 18,000 people in the next year, with about 12,500 employees being sacked in a newly acquired Nokia Equipment and services Division in April this year. It should be noted that the number of layoffs accounted for 14% of the company's global 12多万名 workforce, and that it was the largest layoff in Microsoft's 39-year history. Microsoft said the layoffs were mainly aimed at streamlining and consolidating the company's business after acquiring Nokia's equipment and services.

local time Thursday, Microsoft CEO Satya-Satya Nadella in the title "beginning to adjust our organization and culture" (starting to Evolve our Organization and Culture) for the first time, the news was politely announced to Microsoft employees. In a memo, Nadra said the layoffs would allow for further streamlining of work within the company, ensuring flexibility and rapid adjustment of policy implementation. But no matter how high-sounding the official rhetoric is, a staggering number of 18,000 people are really surprising.

However, while the employees and their families will be troubled by the cuts, it does not mean that the company is in a serious crisis. On the contrary, making such a difficult decision may even bring great benefits to Microsoft in the long run.

"I felt a bit sad when I heard the news, but I believe that Microsoft must have had enough reason to make that decision." "J.P Gownder, vice president and chief research analyst at GAUDL, a market research organization, said.

In fact, when Microsoft bought the Nokia Devices and services business unit for $7.2 billion last September and formally received 25,000 employees from Nokia's mobile phone division when it completed its acquisition in April this year, the company had already faded from its former phone-king Aura and was replaced by later players such as Samsung and Apple. Moreover, Microsoft's acquisition of the Nokia Devices and services business unit was not intended for the Nokia brand, but to further control the devices that carry the Windows Phone operating system and expand its market share in this way.

Clearly, Microsoft certainly understands that not all 25,000 employees in the Nokia mobile sector will be the key to achieving their strategic goals. According to GAUDL analysis, this large-scale layoffs is probably the decision that Barnard had already planned.

"It's not an easy task to cut out redundant workers on such a large scale, and I'm sure it's something that Microsoft has decided to do at the start of the acquisition of Nokia." "Gaudl said.

After a massive streamlining of the company's staffing structure, Nadra believes Microsoft will be better able to compete with companies such as Apple and Google (Weibo) in the smartphone world. But layoffs do not mean that Microsoft has solved all the problems it faces, as it is feared that it will need to solve many other problems in order to really get a foothold in the smartphone market. Microsoft, for example, has launched Nokia devices powered by Android and wants to attract more consumers through this strategy, but now the strategy has been completely abandoned. Instead, Nadra is still looking to the Windows Phone operating system to broaden Microsoft's path to smartphones.

In this regard, gaudl that this is not an easy goal to achieve, because the application of the ecosystem is not yet perfect.

"Almost all new apps will launch their iOS or Android versions, but they won't be the first to release the Windows Phone version, and some apps even give up the platform, which is a huge disadvantage for the platform." "Gaudl added.

At the same time, Gaudl warned that he should not overlook the other collateral damage caused by such large-scale layoffs.

"I think the layoffs will make Microsoft lose the intellectual wealth of the huge staff that it has not yet fully recognized, and it will have a huge impact on the morale of the company's staff." To avoid further farinose, Barnard should have made it clear to employees that "this is an unprecedented change, but it does not mean that this is the way forward for the company's future change." I hope that this layoff is a decision made by Microsoft after careful deliberation, and that this is the only big change. Of course, such layoffs will certainly come at a huge price, but they will enable businesses to survive and thrive. "Gaudl finally said.

Was Microsoft determined to lay off its jobs at the start of Nokia's acquisition?