Sales per employee is a poor guide to performance if you are comparing a company like ICL that still does a substantial amount of its own manufacturing with one like Amstrad that contracts most of it out, but it can be useful where the profiles of companies are similar – and the Japanese are way out in front in the world league, although IBM’s position has improved since it began offering early retirement and other inducements to cut its workforce: Quantum Consultants Inc puts Hitachi Ltd to of the tree among big electronic firms with $244,550 per employee in 1987; Toshiba did $222,421; NEC, $139,251; IBM, $139,251; AT&T, $110,884; Siemens, $90,329; and Philips, $87,682 – which puts the $80,000 done by GEC Marconi into context (CI No 984).
