Downsizing: Reshaping the Corporation for the Future

by Robert M. Tomasko

Published by American Managaement Association, New York, 1987, written by Robert M. Tomasko.

290 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1987

Reviews

[Yves · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of the many books on Downsizing and managing a company during a poor economy that I bought during my first recession, which almost killed off my first company. I do remember reading it in one sitting, and applying the ideas - along with fixes from other books of this ilk - during the 1989 recession in Toronto.

They were valuable because I learned a valuable lesson about planned downsizing: it does not work in a crisis. After a few months I found that these elegant fixes were too little and frankly had no real effect. I savagely cut expenses and tracked down alternate sources of business income, selling ingredients to factories as a way of offsetting the recessionary killing field of my customers. It worked but these books brought me to that conclusion faster than if I muddled around trying to small-fix problems.

Ironically 11 years later I would forge this lesson and have to relearn it again, where it is here to stay.

This book is now basically quaint, historical, and basically not very practical for a small business since it talks about larger organizations. In my office more due to nostalgia.