HP’s Plans to Downsize in China are Unclear

China’s news media is reporting HP China will lay off 20% of its employees. But HP China claims the actual cutback will just be a very small proportion of its workers.

HP further explains that some of the employees will leave the company, but others may be transferred to new positions. The reason for the downsizing is the firm looks to better meet future needs of its own development and customers. However, it does not unveil how many workers and which departments will be affected, as well as how it will compensate those employees being discharged. It just emphasizes, “We will carry out the countermeasures to assist the impacted employees. Our long-term growth target in China won’t be changed.”

Photizo Group notes, “HP remains to be the top player in the Chinese printer market, having about a 60% market share.  But its PC business dropped sharply in the past years, falling behind the market leader, Lenovo, and other companies like Acer and Dell. HP is not ready to give up the PC business, but seeks to grow it in that market.”