Planning for Change - A History of IBM Essay

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.

Abstract This case study discusses briefly the economic and legal issues pertaining to the antitrust case of the United States and a number of States against Microsoft.

External Environment: The main external elements need to be observed and established in and around the organization which will affect the organization.

A company’s external environment includes all relevant factors and influences outside the company’s boundaries. By relevant means important enough to have a bearing on the decisions the company ultimately makes about its direction, objectives, strategy and business model.

Internal environment are SW which stands for strength and weakness, actually analysis of internal organization and external environment OT stands f opportunities and threats

The merger was engineered by noted financier Charles Flint, and the new company was called the Computing Tabulating Recording (CTR) Corporation. CTR was incorporated on June 16, 1911 in Endicott, New York, U.S.A. This merger is just opposite of what happened in the case “Acme and Omega Electronics” where we learnt what changes an organization has to go through when its ownership changes.

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.

These analyses will allow us to form a coherent picture of environment in which the company operates, what actions to take to adapt to the environment, as well as our own internal strengths and possible advantageous opportunities. To assess the internal environment we will use Pascale and Athos’ 7S model. This model highlights the seven elements of the organisation that contribute to organisational effectiveness and success. We will also use Strebel’s Evolutionary Cycle of Competitive Advantage, which is used to anticipate technological and economic changes in the environment and initiate planned organisational changes that will enable a company to remain one step ahead of the

The internal environment analysis focuses on current marketing strategy and performance, present and anticipated organizational resources, current and projected cultural and structural issues, and the customer environment. On the other hand, the external environment addressed competition, economic growth and stability, political trends, Legal and Regulatory Issues, technological advancements, sociocultural trends, and the SWOT analysis.

International Business Machines, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" (for its official corporate color) was incorporated in the State of New York on June 16, 1911, is a multinational computer technology and IT consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. Now, the chairman and CEO of IBM Company is Samuel J Palmisano. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and offers infrastructure services, hosting services, and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology.

The external environment is “all elements existing outside the organisation’s boundaries that have the potential to affect the organisation.” (textbook). Because this is a very broad definition, there is a model named the External Organisation Environment Model that

An analysis of the external environment includes the factors in a business’s external environment about a business's industry, competition, and political and social environments, and affects the firm’s strategy (Aaker, 2001).

Business success can be realized by focussing on the organization, rather than the external business environment.  Aside from a need to be aware of the external environment, the manager must also know the internal business  environment –managers need to understand the strengths ad weaknesses of their organizations; they need to  leverage resources. In order to do this they must know what they are and how they contribute to value creation and  goal attainment.

IBM’s mainframe thinking- in terms of pricing and cost structure IBM tried to launch it in the middle market-and it bombed. It also blinded IBM to the much faster evolutionary path of the PC.

The internal business environment includes factors within the organisation that impact the approach and success of the business operations. Formerly presented as core competencies, capabilities, leadership style and culture of an organisation. To understand its sources of competitive advantage from within a firm or an organisation will implement specific tools such as SWOT analysis (Strength, Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats), Value chain analysis, Resource based view, VRIO framework and BCG Matrix for instance.