A Case Study and Analysis of IBM Essay

According to Hess (2014), employers’ benefit from the cost saving from not maintaining large office buildings to house their employees and the employees benefit from saving money on travel, meals, and in some instances child care. Hess (2014) goes further and says that distractions usually found in a typical office environment (i.e. phone calls, office conversations, and the like) promotes more efficient work. Although there are inherent positives for the employer, there are also inherent negatives that a manager must face in order to promote a good work environment for the company and for the remote employee. Fallon (2014) gives four challenges that a manager faces managing remote employees. The challenges of Communication, Tracking Productivity, Employee Trust, and providing a Unified Company Culture are the four main issues that Fallon

computer giants. It was matter of time and other companies took on IBM. Even hardware

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is an American integrated technology and consulting company founded by Thomas J. Watson and Charles R. Flint on June 16, 1911. (IBM Corporation , 2014)

Factors and trends that made a significant contribution to Big Blue’s profitability can include revenues, cash flow, gross margins and earnings per share (EPS). When discussing the company’s revenue growth, we can see that the company’s lowest point in their first fiscal quarter in 1997 was at $17,308,000.00. Afterwards, the firm’s

IBM was founded in 1911. IBM (International Business Machines) is by far the world's largest information technology company in terms of revenue ($88 billion in 2000) and by most other measures, a position it has held for about the past 50 years. IBM products include hardware and software for a line of business servers, storage products, custom-designed microchips, and application software. ("What is IBM (International Business Machines)? - Definition from WhatIs.com," n.d.)

The company might decide to use social networking to increase boost customer base, sales and productivity through the creation of a virtual community where all its stakeholders interact easily regardless of the distance between them (Settle-Murphy, 2012). The use of social networking will

Prior to the industrial revolution, working from home was a practice that had been around for years before the phenomenon of telecommuting was created. Telecommuting, a term coined by Jack Nilles (Venkatraman, 1994), describes someone who works from home or a telecommuting site through the use of the Internet and other forms of technology. Mirroring the past, many people telework today because it is required by their occupation or simply because it is convenient. Whatever the reason may be, the effects of telework as a prominent practice permit it to be considered a norm in our society. With telecommuting becoming a fast-growing ubiquitous phenomenon, it should be considered the norm for suitable occupations (e.g. sales representative, customer service representative, and software developer) because of the benefits it affords the employee/individual, the employer/organization, and society.

By 1953, IBM began operations. The computer chip followed in 1958 with the first interface arriving by 1964.

The impact of IBM’s culture during its first 75 years was profound. To be an employee of IBM meant being a part of IBM. If one were to ask an IBM employee - whether an engineer, an executive, or a janitor, “What do you do?” the answer would almost always be the same, “I’m an IBMer.” IBM was deeply committed to its employees. If an individual’s skills were no longer needed in one part of the company, IBM would relocate that individual to another part of the company and provide them with whatever training they needed to again become productive. Even during the great depression of the 1930s, IBM maintained and even grew its employee base, enabling the company to capitalize on

Incorporated in New York on June 16, 1911 as The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company as a result of a consolidation of The Computing Scale Company of America, The Tabulating Machine Company and The International Time Recording Company of New York. Present name adopted in 1924 as a result of a merger with International Business Machines Corporation.

IBM needs to grow revenue and stay competitive in the dynamically changing computer marketplace of the 1990’s by maintaining technological leadership and accepting the organizational transformation which needs to be undertaken for them to excel. IBM needs to recapture their previously held powerful position in the personal computer and microprocessor markets and regain value in the company which will increase its stock value and competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Its original business model was based on selling a computer that could be used straight out of the box with a closed platform. In 1981 IBM introduced a Microsoft 's DOS operating system and it’s an open system and easily cloned,

a man named Gary Kildall. IBM came to Kildall first, but he turned them away

Prior to their cultural change that took place in the early 1990’s, many would have said that IBM was on a fatal downhill slide. At this point they were beginning to become obsolete. IBM at one point was among the leaders within the world for hardware/software development and information technology services, but all divisions within the organization were run independently from one another. They were not a unified enterprise. To solidify this even further, “rather than working together as a team, divisions competed against each other both internally and in the field” (DiCarlo, L., 2002).

It has constantly outperformed its competitors and has generated higher returns. IBM should continue to be a leader in differentiation by offering product and services through its constant strive of innovation. It should follow unique practices to maintain a strong culture and positively impact customer experiences. It should be open to change and blend itself to the environment adding its own stroke of colour (introducing new technologies according to the changing