Novartis announces job cuts

Novartis intends to cut or shuffle up to 4,000 jobs in its pharma business, with many of the positions moving to a new operations centre in Hyderabad, India. The news comes two weeks after CEO Joe Jimenez pronounced his dissatisfaction with the company's operating margins, and days after two back-to-back job-cutting announcements. Novartis is in the midst of a worldwide strategic review. The company plans to cut 500 jobs in Switzerland from R&D and administrative functions, while hiring another 500 or so Swiss workers for different positions in the pharma business, as well as generic drugs and over-the-counter products. It appears that half of the 500 jobs cut are moving to the Hyderabad service centre. India is a lower-wage market, so maintaining the same number of jobs there will cost less.