Free Newsletter
Ericsson to shut down U.S. R&D facility
Free newsletter via e-mail
Tools
When the economy slumps R&D becomes a luxury, so it's really no surprise that Ericsson will close its Warrendale, Pa., R&D facility by the middle of next year. Who needs to develop new products when you can't sell the old ones?
About 250 workers will be canned--or possibly relocated--as part of the phased rollout that follows a February announcement by the telco vendor that it would slice jobs and manufacturing locations in the U.K. and Germany. The company's Sony Ericsson joint venture already gave the bad news to about 400 workers at its Raleigh Research Triangle Park facility in September.
It's not as if all these moves are sudden--badly timed, perhaps, but not sudden. Ericsson in July uttered the most evil of all corporate words, restructuring, and said it would be reducing worldwide headcount by 2,000.
For more:
- see this article
Related:
Motorola slashes 150 R&D jobs
Is it time for a Wireless Stimulus Plan?
Out of Work in Wireless
Comments
Posted by Anonymous | November 25, 2008 - 2:26pm
"When the economy slumps R&D becomes a luxury . . ."
Jim, I disagree with your lead-in.
It's almost cliche', but companies that act as though they believe this will find themselves at the back of the pack when the economy turns around.
R&D isn't a luxury, it's a necessity in a technology-driven business.
Maybe the real question is how Ericsson can get its R&D done most cost-effectively.
Comments (1) | Post a comment