Title: The Fall of IBM Date: September 20, 2013
I. Executive Summary
The purpose of this case study analysis is to analyze the situation of IBM in the 1990s, to come up with possible mutually exclusive alternatives for IBM’s management and ultimately, to recommend a possible strategy to regain back IBM’s throne in the industry.
The problem of the case study is all about the survival of IBM in a much more competitive market ever encountered by the company. And also, overcoming new challenges brought about IBM’s new management and the dynamic technological environment.
The methods of analysis used for this case study are the Porter’s Five Forces Model and the ANSOFF matrix analysis. Brief explanations were provided in
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Method of Analysis A. Porter’s Five Forces Model
* Threat of New Entrants: LOW
Technology plays a big role in the computer industry that IBM belongs. And because of the rapid growth of technology, costs accompanying such growth are continually increasing. The threat of new entrants is low because of several factors. One factor is the cost of research and development which is enormous. Adapting to the latest technology to survive the industry is also costly. Building and maintenance of plants is seriously expensive. Plus, the customer service and support activities needed as reinforcement for the products were also costly.
* Bargaining Power of Suppliers: MEDIUM
It was explicitly stated in the case that IBM outsourced and bought the inputs it needed from other companies to make its PC. Intel, for examples, supplied the microchip that was the heart of personal computers and Microsoft delivered the programming language and software applications for the new IBM machine. Thus, power of suppliers is assessed to be high on major suppliers.
Option 1 refers to cut down the markup price of the computer and get top management informed about its future benefits and scopes. Taking advantage of past good relationships, Computron can make Konig understand the importance of high quality product and reliability to get the bid and make the future plant compete. Here the output is in terms of quality and hence customer satisfaction is higher.
Philips NV is a Dutch company founded in 1891 and is one of the world’s largest electronics enterprises. There are four main divisions: lighting, consumer electronics, professional products, and components. Their main competitors are Matsushila, General Electric, Sony, and Siemens. In the 1980’s the company had several hundred subsidiaries in 60 countries as well as operating manufacturing plants in more than 40 countries. They employed more than 300,000 people and manufactured thousands of different products. Despite their success in the 1990’s they were in deep trouble. They lost $2.2 billion on revenues of $28 billion. The major reason for their downfall is their inability to adapt to the changing competitive conditions. This case study will go into further detail as to why they
Dell and Hewlett Packard (HP) are two of the most influential companies in the PC market. The CEO of HP requires an understanding of how dells strategy allows it to achieve a competitive advantage so that he/she can counteract it. This report has been carried out to provide the CEO with the necessary information to do this. Therefore the objective of the report is to provide the CEO with detailed information on Dell as a business and its strategy. In order to achieve this, first the main strategies of Dell and how they provide competitive advantage will be identified, then the business models and e-business initiatives used
The major market trends faced by the organization are the rapid development of the technology. This trend gives the customer an uneasy sensation, so the customer will ask for the upgrade at the lower cost conceivable. Other trend is the cost of the internet, and the use of the computer by their employee for personal matters.
For such a company like this to be successful and to achieve its goals, there are several factors that come into play. These may be seen to be some of the driving factors toward the success of the organization. This paper would look at six topics in regards to the company and incorporate the issue of managerial economics within the company and how the economic situation of today may influence the strategic decisions the company makes. These include managing innovation, leadership, ensuring informational control, organizational structure, corporate governance, and customer relations.
IBM is among the oldest of the Fortune 500 companies with operations all over the world. The company is renowned for its capacity to transform careers and deliver innovative technologies and business solutions. Over the past decade IBM has undergone a transformation of its own as it shifts from hardware development to cloud computing and business consulting. The company sees this niche market as having huge potential to carry it forward into the ensuing decades.
Like PCs, machinery, services and office equipment. All these are essential for the overall cost structure. Secondly, Technology development that primary Includes R&D for designing the product, staying up to date with the needs of the customers and directly delivering products to people who do not have time to shop. The the Internet has contributed to have a Human resource management by providing the online recruitment of employees more effective with no waste of time. And help to hire qualified IT specialists. Therefore, the company for sure will aim to increase the number of trained, recruited staff. And finally, the Infrastructure in which it includes offices, plants, warehouses and distribution centers. Lately the company is upgrading its infrastructure technology and is installing new security systems which aim to reduce internal
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
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.
Question 1. What competences has IBM had to invest in arising from its transformation from a ‘product-centric’ to a ‘service-centric’ organization?
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).
IBM has weaknesses in the transformation of its business model. It is lack of flexibility in the transition because of its large company
Over the past five years, IBM has quietly transformed itself into a "software, solution and services" company. With the transformation from a hardware vendor to a solution provider, it has entered the area of consulting services.
• Lenovo was number 9 on PC market and had 2.2% market share worldwide and therefore it wanted to increase its market share position.
In comparison with the loss of 4 billion in 1992, what Gertsner did was amazing. He coped with IBM problems by solving the most severe to the less one. At that time, problems of products and customers was the most serious which cost IBM billion dollars in loss. Gernstner focused on getting cost out as quickly as possible and ‘clean sheet’ the process and redesign it for global use.