Friday, July 22, 2005

The diaper business gets messy

Dallas's own Kimberly-Clarke announces that 6000 of their employees will be asked to seek CEO opportunities. But the company won't announce which employees. Thus demoralizing all 62,000 of their workforce.

The problem seems to be efficiency. Tissues -- especially the new anti-viral ones that appeal so effectively to our inner Howard Hughes -- and diapers are posting big sales, but the Huggies price war with Pampers has been brutal. And oh yeah, blame Wal-Mart: "The job cuts 'reflect the changing relationship with Wal-Mart and the other big retailers that have reduced suppliers' pricing power.'" In other words, Kimberly-Clarke needs to make 'em cheaper and faster. How do you say "plant relocation" in Bangladeshi?

But the real lesson may be this: "'Historically larger firms are not the job creators, they are the job shedders in America.'"

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