How would a company prosper and move forward which includes building employee morale if these people, in some cases toxic, were left to continue working at the company?
Some of the people I know who were laid off were some of the worst people I have encountered in my 20+ career (at three different companies). Obviously, I don't know all of them but aside with the not knowing the "who," wouldn't the company ultimately be better off without these toxic folks?
Building processes and efficiencies at Nike is a huge struggle because of a lot of these middle management wanting their own little kingdoms rather than working with colleagues to build a better, more efficient company. Reducing overhead expenses of people who don't make things better and then streamlining processes should ultimately increase gross margin which is a good thing.