Pearlie M Thomas, Candice Johnson, Frances Marshall, Jonathan Parker, Terrance Clements
QNT/561
February 14, 2013
Professor Emiel Barrett
What affect will the FedEx buyout have on the Memphis Economy? FedEx is one of the largest company in the City of Memphis and probably employee more employees than any other company. The slow economy and the high cost of fuel have affected the company’s budget. In order to make the company more profitable, the company has decided to restructure and offer a voluntary buyout to its 100,000 plus employees worldwide, with about 30,000 of those in the Memphis area. The buyout leads to one question, the affect it will have on the local economy. Problem This buyout is projected be much bigger than the one the company offered in 2004 and the last one. Those employees electing to take the buyout will receive a lump sum payment. Economists view this as an opportunity to boost the Memphis economy. Those with, what is being called new money are projected to spend it on real estate, investments, new business, automobile purchases etc. This may very well boost the local economy over a short-term period, but the bigger picture is the affect it will have long-term. Over time, it will affect the economy because it will lower the median income in the city, which affects consumer spending because they are going to replace the jobs with lower paying jobs. There will also be an influx of employees who need a job, but unable to obtain one. Research Design The research design that is appropriate for this dilemma is a Casual Study Design. Causality studies can be thought as the understanding of a phenomenon in terms of conditional statements in the form of, “If X happens, and then Y is the result” (USC, 2011). This type of research is used to measure what impact a specific change will have on existing norms and assumptions (USC, 2011). The
References: USC. (2011). Retrieved February 2013, from Southern California University Research: http://libguides.usc.edu/content.php?pid=83009&sid=818072