Intel

One of the last and truly excellent manufacturing-capable corporations in the US. Not that the automobile industry isn't capable, just its leadership seems to be poor. Top-level managers often seem well chosen for capability and smarts.

For all their emphasis on competitive ratings of employees, too often poor performers continually get promoted or protected. This is especially true at the mid-level management level, where I've had to work for a good number of total incompetents.

There's often an unfortunately high degree of belief that managers can be successful managing without any technical competence. This is fine if you are not in a technical group, but if you are, it's rather unfortunate for those unlucky enough to have to endure it.

As a company grows, it becomes entrenched with bureaucracy. The recent paring of mid-level managers was a good start.

I'm glad to see strong cuts come at a time when the economy was perceived to be strong. Now that the economy isn't quite as strong, it's good to still have a job.

I've worked at Intel for over 10 years now and have seen some of the excesses of when the cycle was hot, only to see some ludicrous actions being taken once the economy cooled down. I hope the trend towards moderation in boom continues so we're not overstaffed when down cycles occur.