Motorola's doing it. C&W's doing it. Even educated EMC's doing it...

There have been profit warnings left, right and centre, forcing many big name stocks into a tailspin. Blue-chip tech players have been turning in profit warnings, and turning dealers white. Dot-com companies have plummeted from the highs of over-valuation and funding on tap to the deadly lows of near-bankruptcy.

But let's keep this in perspective. The 'axing staff' or 'slashing jobs' that has been going on at the same time can be seen as a good thing (even, believe it or not, for soon to be ex-employees). Certainly the markets understand that particular cost-cutting measures have a healthy place in the operation of a company.

In February, storage giant EMC said its move to reduce its headcount by three per cent was not a cost-cutting measure. The company described the move as an "annual review process" and opportunity to get rid of "people who are not productive". This, it seems, is a prudent measure to protect the long-term viability of the company.

The equation is not cut and dry. Job losses are not always a sign of a company on its knees. Cable & Wireless, for instance, has plans to lay off 4,000 people over the next 12 months, even though it expects revenues to rise (a revised) 12 per cent by the end of the fiscal year.

Motorola is a good example of where cuts really do signify trouble - it is clearly a company with some acute problems. Finding itself drowning in billions of dollars worth of debt, it has made severe and highly publicised job cuts as a belated sink or swim measure.

Furthermore, the more cynical among us might argue that companies such as EMC are announcing staff cuts now while we're in the midst of a sacking frenzy so the figures will be swallowed up along with the all the other bad news. In buoyant times, nobody wants to be identified as a loser.