dumbsizing
pp. Reducing the size of a company's workforce to such an extent that the company becomes unprofitable or inefficient.
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1996
Granted, companies became lean and nimble, but excessive chopping in many cases led to the corporate equivalent of anorexia. In peak periods, companies have been forced to out-source work, often, ironically, for a premium to their own laid-off employees—you know, the ones with the training and expertise to do the job. Downsizing, meet "dumbsizing."
—Martha Groves, “Downsizing Wave Has Reached a Point of Diminishing Returns,” The Los Angeles Times, July 07, 1996
1993
Gerald Celente, head of the Trends Research Institute in Rhinebeck, N.Y., says major firms have gone beyond downsizing to "dumbsizing" — and are "seriously cutting into their muscle."
—Bill Hendrick, “You career is in your hands,” The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, February 07, 1993
1992 (earliest)
We thought you'd want to know that for 1993 Indians are in and cowboys are out; blame is in and responsibility out, and dumbsizing is in and downsizing out. Or, so it says in something called "The Trends Journal: The Authority on Trend Management."
—James A. Finefrock, “Trends in Trends,” San Francisco Examiner, December 23, 1992
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