Posts Tagged ‘Crabtree & Evelyn’

Unbelievable!

Sunday, July 5th, 2009
Imagination Plus Adobe

Imagination Plus Adobe

The image shown here is that of the home page for the Intranet I had built for Childs Capital LLC. I did all of the work using the products of Adobe Creative Suite (which includes Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and Acrobat). Adobe is one of my favorite companies; I absolutely love its products.  So I was stunned to read that it had shut down its North American operations this week as part of a corporate-wide plan to reduce operating costs. Adobe, the world’s largest maker of graphic design software, announced to employees back in March that, in addition to the normal holiday shutdown between Christmas and New Year’s Day, the company would close for one week in the second, third and fourth quarters. Staff were asked to take paid vacation time. This measure is on top of an 8% reduction in the workforce taken last December and salary freezes and bonus reductions imposed on the remaining employees. The company has reduced variable compensation plans and cut travel costs.  Spending on information technology is falling as recessionary pressures force companies to cut spending. Adobe is not immune from these pressures, as its second quarter sales declined 21% as customers postponed upgrading to the latest version of Creative Suite.

I also happened to read the newspapers reports that Crabtree & Evelyn Ltd. has filed for bankruptcy. The company expects a 24% decline in sales from last year and projects a 30% decline in wholesale sales this year.  When I was a high school student, Crabtree & Evelyn personal care products were a favorite of the girls who were my classmates. I never thought I would see the day that companies that make such great products would be in such distress.