From seeking alpha:
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4108110-ibm-shareholders-need-employee-enthusiasm-engagement-passion?auth_param=1di6fc:1csa33g:f79a0d1fc52a7a26a717e6e1717a9b33&dr=1&uprof=82&utoken=67dea4223405bc8d9459c3577c96d904a2156365
With a massive 20% drop in profit productivity over the last three years (“IBM’s Financial Engineering Revealed – Workload Rebalancing”), IBM has lost all the “productivity” gains of the new century (in inflation adjusted dollars). But there have been no productivity gains as IBM’s leadership found it easier to manipulate profits than to invest in improving employee productivity. This century’s profits have been propped up by a massive transfer of wealth, a corporate wealth that two of America’s greatest 20th Century industrialists accumulated by providing great service to their customers through enthusiastic, engaged and passionate employees.
Until shareholders acknowledge the importance of enabling and empowering enthusiastic employees to provide service to their customers, investors should expect short-term financial engineering to replace the mechanics of running a business properly.
Until IBM’s 21st Century leadership reverses its current human resources practices, long-term shareholders should not expect the value of their investments to be maximized.