Taking quick action after it missed its first quarter earnings number, IBM on Wednesday announced it plans to cut between 10,000 and 13,000 jobs worldwide as part of a major reorganization of its management structure.The action will help “accelerate progress toward more globally integrated operation” while attempting to remedy profitability in some of the slower-growth regions, particularly Europe, a company spokesman said. The job cuts reportedly will also allow the company to shift its resources to higher-growth markets and opportunities including Business Performance Transformation Services.Consequently, IBM officials estimate the company will record a pre-tax charge of between $1.3 and $1.7 billion in the second quarter. The company hopes to realize the benefits of the move sometime during the second quarter. IBM plans to realign its operations and organizational structure in Europe in order to “improve the speed of execution and better meet the needs of its clients,” the company said in a prepared statement. The success of this strategy hinges on reducing bureaucracy and infrastructure in lower-growth countries and creating teams that can work across country borders thereby shifting more employees into direct client roles that hopefully results in higher-value services and products, according to company officials.This supposedly eliminates the need for a traditional pan-European management layer to coordinate activity. As a result, IBM will create a number of smaller, more flexible local operating units in Europe to increase direct client contact. IBM has scheduled a press conference for Thursday morning where Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Offcier, Mark Loughridge, will offer more details about the actions. Technology Industry