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How do large Australian and Swiss banks implement downsizing?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Franco Gandolfi
Franco Gandolfi*
Affiliation:
School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship, Regent University, Virginia Beach VA, USA Faculty of Business & Informatics, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton QLD, Australia
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Abstract

Large Australian and Swiss banks have been trimming their workforces since the mid-1990s. With further rounds of downsizing activities predicted, this study sought to identify, examine, and compare the adopted organizational downsizing implementation strategies. The primary purpose of this cross-cultural study was to determine how large Australian and Swiss banks implemented downsizing in their most recent endeavors. The research has revealed three key findings. First, Australian banks primarily adopted workforce reduction strategies, whereas Swiss banks employed a mixture of organization redesign, workforce reduction, and systemic strategies. Second, Australian banks had considerable depth in their downsizing, whereas Swiss banks had more breadth in their overall strategies. Third, Australian banks favored reorientation approaches, whereas Swiss banks embraced reinforcement approaches. It remains unclear as to why large Australian and Swiss banks differed in the selection of implementation strategies and why they diverged in their overall approaches to downsizing. Further research is required to explore aspects that are likely to influence the adoption of downsizing strategies in both Australia and Switzerland.

Keywords

downsizingimplementation strategiesbanksAustraliaSwitzerland
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , June 2007 , pp. 145 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2007

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