IBM Japan Ltd reported net profit for 1992 down 44.8% to the equivalent of $268m; turnover slipped 1.6% to $10,750m; the company says service business including systems integration showed double-digit growth from the previous year but that hardware sales turned in a double-digit drop; We are still in the midst of changing course to become a service company, the company said – Along with the severe state of the economy, that resulted in lower sales and profits; systems integration, accounting for just 8% of sales, grew by 40% and IBM Japan plans to increase staff there by half this year; hardware sales accounted for 53% of the total, but the ratio could reverse this year; the company plans to cut operating costs per employee by about 10%, further reducing headquarters staff by a quarter, reducing the number of top executives by a quarter and slashing executive bonuses in half.
