International Business Machine Corporation ( Ibm )

Apple Incorporation is one of the largest organizations dealing into Information Technology. Apple has a host of products ranging from Laptops, Desktops, Mobile Phones and Multimedia Devices. The company has been extremely innovative in the field of multimedia and it owes it success to one of the greatest innovators, Steve Jobs. The company has always believed in innovation and that is the major reason why it has been so successful in the mobile phone segment. In recent years Apple is second only to Samsung in the Global Mobile Phone industry. However the operations have been largely based in the United States and in times of recession any organization needs to focus on economies of scale and thus focus on growth

IBM Global Services, the technology services and consulting division of International Business Machines (IBM), is the world’s largest provider of systems integration and technology consulting. It offers services in areas such as application development, data storage, infrastructure management, networking, and technical support (Datamonitor Plc., 2007, p.4). IBM Global Services is also among the world leaders in providing business consulting and outsourcing services. IBM Global Services’ headquarter locates in Armonk, New York. The company has more than 190,000 employees around the world.

Intel realized the advantage of partnering with IBM and initiated projects like “Crush” and “Checkmate” to counter Motorola to ensure microprocessor supremacy. With the success of securing IBM contract along with more wins, Intel was on set on track to ensure industry dominance.

In the seven years (since 1994), that Lou Gerstner reigned over IBM, the company’s earnings per

Apple manages its business on geographic locations having offices in Americas, Europe, Japan and Asia Pacific. Apple’s sale is continuously growing. In the era of 2000, Apple opens 86 retail stores in USA and two international stores in Tokyo and Osaka which increases its sales. It introduces eMac line of cathode ray screen, but its most impressive and fastest growing market is of iPod line of digital music players and iTunes music store website. The three major competitors of Apple are Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM; however Apple also competes with Microsoft in software industry. Dell is the largest computer manufacturer with extremely low cost production strategy. Dell has entered the in the line of music against Apple by its Jukebox. Hewlett Packard is a big brand name and leading provider of technology. Apple combined with IBM enjoyed profit jointly but now Lenovo took over IBM and become a competitor of Apple. Apple’s new products like speech recognition program will help take industry into a new age of computers and is according to the company’s motto and it is hoped that it will double the profit margin in the near future. Overall, Apple is continuously growing and its

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)

Lockheed Martin is an American aerospace multinational that also specializes in defense, security and advanced technology industries. The corporation was instituted in 1995 following the merger between Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta (Yenne, 2000). The corporation is based in Bethesda in Maryland with global centers that specialize in different aspects of the corporation’s many operations. Currently, the corporation employs over 120,000 employees scattered across the world. Presently, Lockheed is one of the largest defense contractors in the world and enjoys almost unlimited orders across the world.

IBM entered the market in 1981 and gave Apple its first real competition. Apple managed to bounce back and thrived on this competition to abolish complacency and starting findings new ways to stay

* In 1981, IBM entered PC market used Microsoft’s DOS OS and microprocessor and will be Apple best rival for the start on 1981. Jobs forced out in 1985.

IBM Market Leader in Mainframe –market share 61%, starts PC business in ’81, in 2 yrs market share is 42%

Personal computer business naturally can be classified as a sub component of business solutions provider that IBM’s positioned for. The tagline indeed shows that for every transactions made, IBM has something to deal with it to make things easier, meaningful and on advantages. The decision to relinquish interest in the above mentioned sector doesn’t put IBM in any advantage if it decided to discontinue advertise in mass media. On the contrary, by resuming the current practices it helps maintains and restore the brand name that could probably enhance the brand loyalty.

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.