DIARY: Take your watering can and get out
<p>As every one of us knows, the global economic climate is not what
</p><p>it once was. And in these straitened financial times, companies would be
</p><p>foolish if they didn't engage in cost-cutting measures.
</p><p><BR><BR>
</p><p>Some trim their headcount, as our angry anonymous contributor below is
</p><p>all too keen to point out; others, as every reader of media will be
</p><p>painfully aware, cut their marketing budgets; and then there are the
</p><p>really clever ones, who fire the plant-waterer.
</p><p><BR><BR>
</p><p>As befits a global media corporation, with tentacles that span the
</p><p>globe, and influential publications like The Wall Street Journal, the
</p><p>Far Eastern Economic Review and Carp Fishing Monthly (we may have made
</p><p>that last one up), Dow Jones has a retinue of employees whose purpose it
</p><p>to make sure that the company's office plants are well-watered.
</p><p><BR><BR>
</p><p>Or at least it did, until recently, when the downturn in the global
</p><p>advertising market reportedly caused the company to fire the lot of
</p><p>them.
</p><p><BR><BR>
</p><p>Rumour has it, however, that the company's Hong Kong office has escaped
</p><p>the cull, through the simple expedient of only having plants made out of
</p><p>plastic. And in a city where one of the leading tycoons, Li Ka Shing,
</p><p>made a good part of his fortune selling fake foliage, who'd be surprised
</p><p>if it turned out to be true?
</p><p><BR><BR>
</p>
by
|
07/20/2001
As every one of us knows, the global economic climate is not what
it once was. And in these straitened financial times, companies would be
foolish if they didn't engage in cost-cutting measures.
Some trim their headcount, as our angry anonymous contributor below is
all too keen to point out; others, as every reader of media will be
painfully aware, cut their marketing budgets; and then there are the
really clever ones, who fire the plant-waterer.
As befits a global media corporation, with tentacles that span the
globe, and influential publications like The Wall Street Journal, the
Far Eastern Economic Review and Carp Fishing Monthly (we may have made
that last one up), Dow Jones has a retinue of employees whose purpose it
to make sure that the company's office plants are well-watered.
Or at least it did, until recently, when the downturn in the global
advertising market reportedly caused the company to fire the lot of
them.
Rumour has it, however, that the company's Hong Kong office has escaped
the cull, through the simple expedient of only having plants made out of
plastic. And in a city where one of the leading tycoons, Li Ka Shing,
made a good part of his fortune selling fake foliage, who'd be surprised
if it turned out to be true?
