18 Nov 08 Recession and Strategy: The first unfortunate signs of structural change.

The news on Monday 17th November that Citigroup was to shed 52,000 jobs, in addition to the 23,000 announced earlier this year is an upsetting indicator that the type of structural change described in my previous posting Recession and Strategy:  The old questions don’t work anymore is upon us.  Reports say the Citigroup will be left with some 300,000 employees indicating that as a result of a financial services led recession 1 in 5 employees will have lost their jobs – on the scale reported in the above posting.

This puts one very serious question onto the strategic agenda:

“Which industry sectors will expand to provide the employment shed by the financial services sector and how will this shift impact our products and targets markets?”

A question that is difficult to answer but that cannot be ignored.

Information Source:

Guerrera, F (2008) Citi cuts 52,000 more jobs Financial Times November 17.

Tags: business strategy, financial services sector, industry sectors, recession