The University of Aveiro

Department of Economics, Management and Industrial Engineering

Case Study of IBM

Prepared By: Alireza Nazaritalouki (62876)

Baishali Sarkar (59229)
Márcia C. A. Araújo (48552)
Sasmita Mohanty (62998)
 Contents
Chapter Title Page No.

Introduction 2

1 External Environment Analysis of IBM 4

General Environment (PESTEL) Analysis of IBM 4
Industry Environment Analysis 7
Competitor Analysis 8
2 Internal Analysis of IBM 10
Resources (Tangible and Intangible) 10
Capabilities 11
Core Competences 11
Competitive Advantages 12
Critical Success Factors 13
SWOT Analysis of IBM 13
3 Marketing Analysis of IBM 15
Disciplines of IBM´s Marketing 16
IBM´s Marketing and Advertising Processes of IBM 17
The Brand IBM 17
Internet Marketing Approach of IBM 18
4 Strategic Human Resource Management at IBM 22
What is HRM? 22
Why HRM? 23
What is Strategic HRM? 24
People – Key to IBM´s Success 25
SHRM at IBM 25
Uniqueness of IBM´s Talent Management 27
Overall SHRM Structure of IBM 28
5 Business and Corporate Level Analysis of IBM 30
Shift of Paradigms for IBM 30
Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances 31
Product and Service Oriented Strategies 31

Conclusion 32
References 33

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 Introduction

In this case study we analyze the strategic moves of IBM and their effects in the real world in
terms of its business performances, values and sustainability. We review the existing literatures
of strategy of IBM and the current issues published in the journals, established periodicals and
above all the websites of IBM and its associates. All the reviewed substances are listed in the
references at the end.

IBM or the International Business Machines was established by Thomas J. Watson in USA in
1911. In fact it was established after the merging of four different companies and Watson joined
as its chief executive in 1914. The name IBM was given during Watson´s tenure. The main
business of this company was to provide solutions for businesses in terms of calculations and
planning. Later it became a specialist of computing after the Second World War. Under the
visionary leadership of Thomas J. Watson, Jr., it thrived as a multinational giant in all areas of
computing and set trends in both hardware and software. Its nickname is ´Big Blue´ due to its
huge size and dominance in its area and the color of its logo. IBM has a worldwide presence in
almost every major country in different forms and actively involved in the development of many
smart and new technologies. It has many development and innovation centers across the world in
five continents.

Basic Information and Key Indicators of IBM10, 11, 12

Founder: Thomas J Watson

Head Quarters: Armonk, New York
Industry Type: Hardware for computing
Software
Consulting
IT Services
Smart Technologies

2010 Revenue: 99.87 billion USD

2010 Operating Income: 19.27 billion USD
2010 Total Assets: 113.5 billion USD
2010 Profits: 14.83 billion USD
Fortune 500 Rank: 18
Market Value: 197.8 billion USD

Vision of IBM: Solutions for a small planet.

Punch line: Let´s build a smarter planet.

Mission of IBM: IBM strives to lead in the invention, development and manufacture of the
industry's most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software,
storage systems and microelectronics.

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We translate these advanced technologies into value for our customers through our professional
solutions, services and consulting businesses worldwide.

Besides the above key figures, the brand IBM is one of the most popular and valuable brands of
the world. IBM is widely recognized as an ideal model for a corporate and leadership. It has
created many new trends and ideas both in business and technology. Many big names in
computing are the offsprings of IBM. Be it Microsoft or Oracle or Sun Microsystems all got their
basic ideas from IBM. Some of their founders used to work in IBM before starting their own
ventures.

Income of IBM According to Different Sectors8

In the following chapters we discuss more about this corporate in specific business areas. We do
the internal, external, human resources, business and marketing management analysis with the
available information.

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 Chapter 1
External Analysis of IBM

External environment analysis is very important for any firm to define its business and to make
the strategic decisions. Economic problems in the early 21st century affected almost each and
every industry negatively worldwide. It can create the threats (which is a condition in the general
environment that may hinder a company‘s efforts to achieve strategic competitiveness1) and
opportunities (which is a condition in the general environment that if exploited effectively, helps
a company achieve strategic competitiveness1) for firm in such conditions that effect on their
strategic actions also.1 The challenge for a firm‘s strategic leaders is to understand what the
external environment‘s effects are on the firm today and to predict what those effects will be on
the firm‘s strategic actions in the future. So, to remain in its position IBM cannot relax just with
the thinking of spreading business by old common stereotype strategies; but, it has to explain its
external environment which influences the firm‘s strategic options as well as the decisions made
in the light of them. Firms have to understand the external environment by acquiring information
about competitors, customers and other stakeholders to build their own base of knowledge and
capabilities.

In this external environment analysis of IBM, we divide our study to three major parts. They are:

i) General Environment (PESTEL)

ii) Industry Environment (5 Forces of Porter)
iii) Competitor Environment

General Environment or PESTEL Analysis of IBM:

General environment, in broader sense, is the broader society-influence within the firm. May be,
firms cannot directly control its segments; but changes in general environment can affect the firm
directly and rapidly. For an example, most firms have little individual effect in their own
country‘s economy; although that economy has a major effect on their ability to operate and
sometimes even to survive.

Political factors: Political factors influence the business very much such as rules and regulations
upon an industry, the spending times and powers with consumers, about franchising, to get entry
in a new country etc. So, one firm should not ignore these points such as: stability of political
environment, laws of regulation and taxation on a firm, the government‘s position on the market
ethics, government policy on the economy or culture or special region, if the government has
some trade treaties like ASEAN, NAFTA, EU etc.

For example, heavy taxation services in UK made IBM server products increase the price factors
especially on the premium products of IBM. In 2003, Iraq War affected world economy, and
IBM stock fell down. Technology affects directly to computer technology industry because
computer technology can be used as a tool to invent many technological products. Oil price,
increase the price of energy and reduce the worth of Dollar due to U.S. Government‘s sanction

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against Iran and North Korea, which had direct effect on IBM. IBM stopped to work in Iran in
1981due to political problems and never allowed to work in North Korea. Now IBM´s position is
pretty good with major economies. IBM works for many governments as consultant and advisor.
For example, IBM works for Rio 2016 Olympics in Brazil and London 2012 in England.

Economic factors: Economic factors affect the companies a lot. The macro-economics of any
country forces many policies like taxation, relaxation, bail-outs etc. IBM is very much affected
by these factors in the countries where it operates. For example the corporate taxes are high in
some specific countries and IBM avoids big investments in those countries. However, the low
tax and low cost destinations like India and China are now hot beds of IBM´s operations.

Economic crisis made IBM to cut 2,800 jobs just in the North America in 20099. Nearly 70,000
people lost their jobs on Monday, Jan 26 2009, all over the United States of America. It is being
called as a Bloody Monday.

Economic environment with strong and stable GDP in the all regions provides a good market for
the product and service business of IBM. The service industry in the world contributed nearly
73.4% to the GDP in 2006. That indicated that the high value added service market in the world
is matured, and the customer experience on the service would be higher or more difficult to be
satisfied.

Socio-cultural factors: The socio-cultural effect is very much concerned with the society‘s
attitude and cultural value of particular demographic segment. It is related with the habits of
specific region. It changes the behaviours, manners, gender or age divisions at workplace; shifts
in work and career preferences etc. place to place.

In 2006, population and the internet users, the population in just U.K it was nearly 60,609,153,
and more than half of these people (37.6 million in 2005) were internet users (CIA, 2007). The
well known about the internet indicated how the socio-cultural factors affect the opportunities of
relevant products and services, because this result is not similar to another African or Middle-
east country.

IBM has found the first CEO female person Virginia Rometty as vice-president of senior sales
and marketing position on 2011. As women in workplace and with same reputation with the men
is very familiar to USA.

Technological factors: As we know that, technological changes affect many parts of societies, so
the effects occur primarily through new products, processes, and materials. Rapid pace of
technological change, it is vital for firms to thoroughly study the technological segment and this
factor is most effective part of IBM‘s new innovation and production services. As it produces the
software, hardware, infrastructure, consultancy services etc. It thinks such products and services
to be made more cheaply and to a better standard of quality with new innovative features and as
―new generation model‖.

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As competitors become adept at duplicating the same types of services IBM develops,
competition increases and profits drop; because IBM does not force clients to use any particular
product, it is easy for clients to move to IBM, at the risk of them easily moving elsewhere.

Environmental factors: It refers to potential and actual changes in the physical environment and
how the firm intended to positively respond to and deal with those changes.

A disease, bird flu, in 2004, effected to all businesses that operated especially in China. IBM has
many suppliers in china and Asia countries, so it also had some crisis.

In environmental dimension the IBM made the some of the major technologies like to trace the
weather through-out the world, IBM made computers for NASA for astrology that made them to
set the satellite which monitor the environmental changes over the globe. IBM also added some
of the revolutionary environmental friendly strategies which not just provides environmental
saving factors, but also cost saving factors like energy cost.

Legal factors: ―Do‖ and ―Do Not‖ of laws and regulations guiding interactions among nations as
well as between firms and various local governmental agencies are the legal factors. Labor
training laws, educational philosophies and policies, environmental protection etc. are some
examples.

The main legal constraints for IBM are Cyber protection and the chemical the use in making
hardware (like: carbon, germanium and silicon), the cross country business, currency exchange
and many legal registrations for their business outsourcing facilities. Except these main points,
there are some more external factors:

Demographic factors: 426,751 IBMers11, in 120 countries, participated in 5,000 service projects
are involving to serve the world as a greater place. Of course, it differs from place to place. It has
more than one segment like: population size, age structure, geographic distribution, ethnicity,
income distribution, gender division etc. To understand better not only the customers, but also
the habits and interests of local people, these group divisions are very important. And that‘s why
IBM also created eight task forces, each focused on a different group such as Asians, blacks
(African-American and of African descent), gays/ lesbians/ bisexuals/ transgender, Hispanics,
white men, native Americans, people with disabilities and women just in USA.

Global factors: IBM Global Insurance Industry had got a better growth in China and India in
time of Global crisis, when most of the markets have negative growth. The global managing
partner of IBM Insurance Industry Lee Han Tijoe, once in his interview, was depicting how it
found its business in the stage of crisis. The improvement of this business policy, IBM has
focused mostly on the consumer. Finding right customers with the right propositions and serving
them in an excellent way were the key factors to spread the business. As the gentleman was
telling the true fact of any insurance company is ―not being a trusted brand‖ for ―not being
trusted in the services and the claims‖ to most of the consumers. Analytic scales to divide the
customer segments by involvement of new technologies with better models, better capabilities is

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first step. Using latest technology as the methodology such as internet, sell insurance and new
devices like telephone, iphone, to reach the consumers directly is another important step.
Countries like China, India, Central Europe and Brazil is growing by the increasing wealth of the
middle class society, is growing the penetration of insurance companies hugely in the market
than already developed countries.

So, in this way IBM maintains not only the diversity of services to remain in the position, but
also changes itself as the global market wants it to be.

Industry Environment or Analysis of 5 Forces of Porter

Industrial environment directly influences the firm and its competitive action and responses. The
interactions among the five factors determine an industry‘s profit potential: Threat of New
entrants, Power of Suppliers, Power of Buyers, Threat of product substitute and Intensity of
Rivalry.

Threat of New entrants: IBM is not alone in the market to have the reputation for software
business. Though it is leading the IT services, still companies like DELL, HP, Accenture, and
Microsoft with the large common market segment, are really a big threat to IBM as its
production cost is a bit higher than the others.

IBM spent nearly $171 million in system and technology for server product in 2005, (Annual
Report,2006) and IBM spent over $1 billion in the Linux operating system in 2001(Shankland,
2002). This is the effect to enrich the R&D process to get better technological production than
the competitors. As well, this is the barrier on the cost level strategy also.

Power of Suppliers: Not from one supplier, but IBM‘s business employs a wide variety of
components, suppliers, services and raw materials from substantial number of suppliers around
the world. So, the suppliers do not have the bargaining power so much to increase the cost of
product.

Intel and AMD, as the two biggest processor providers (monopolies) in the world, have very
strong power on the chip supplying. Although the power of suppliers might be decreased
resulting from the competition between these two companies, the wide range of customers and
high costs on switching cause the buyers lack of power to bargain with these two giants.

Power of Buyers: As IBM has built a good reputation and trust, so by operating business in B2B
market, most organizations buy a large amount per one time. Therefore the customers have
power to negotiate with the company.

But sometimes, consumers compare the products by the cost only. So, in that case, IBM may
face problems in comparison to HP, DELL etc. especially in UK.

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 Figure -1.1: Porter‘s 5 forces on IBM

Threat of substitute product: Software if a strong component which is used to enable a computer
to perform specific tasks. The modern technology hasn‘t yet proved anything can be used as
substitution.
In the other hand, web hosting business might be the biggest threat of substitute for the server
products in the world. The advantages of web hosting include low cost, tech-support, easy to
manage and low switching costs.

Intensity of Rivalry: Today‘s global market has a lot of companies manufacturing software. Each
manufacture tries to differentiate its product by creating new programmes that make the
computer more powerful and sophisticated. IBM has that kind of competitive mind, that‘s why it
has been celebrating century of its business.

For an example, on 2003, the world server market continues to show promising signs, according
to IDC, (2003), the competitive rivalry in the server market was becoming intense in the world.
These competitors included HP, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Dell and Fujitsu Siemens Computers
were becoming the fifth leading server vendor in the world.

Competitor environment
The key factors to measure competitor is: reporting and analysis, analytics, data warehousing,
workflow, data integration, support and product technology.
To analysis competitor environment, there are four questions:
i) What drives the competitor ( future objectives)
ii) What the competitor is doing and can do (current strategy)
iii) What the competitor believes about the industry ( assumptions)

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 iv) What the competitor‘s capabilities are (strengths and weaknesses)

Figure - 1.2: IBM Competitor and their Position in Software (Source: IDC, 2009)

Information about the above four dimensions help IBM prepare for an anticipated response
profile for each competitor. Understanding the actions of competitors clearly contributes to the
firm‘s ability to compete successfully within the industry. Gathering data and information to
understand its competitors‘ intentions and the strategic implications is important.

Figure – 1.3: Competitor Analysis1

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 Chapter 2
Internal Analysis of IBM
Nowadays International Business Machines Corporation or IBM company turned to one of
the most well own leaders of I.T industry in the world and is active in almost all dimension of
technology like tiny gadgets, software (the Software Group of IBM was created in 1995),
computers, computing machines and so on.

In this part we will focus on internal strategy and analysis of this company. To do that, we will
study the resources, capabilities, core competences, competitive advantages and critical success
factors of IBM. Via this internal analysis process we can shortly review advantages and
disadvantages of this company in covering target market.

Resources:
To review the resources of IBM Company, we divide the resources to two main categories:
tangible and intangible resources.

Tangible resources
Tangible resources are observable in terms of numbers and qualities and can be categorized to
Physical resources and Financial and Technological resources.

o Physical resources:
Based on IBM released information1, IBM has lots of physical resources and equipment
like large scale product development infrastructure, manufacturing bases, large retail
outlets, distribution centres.

o Financial and Technological resources:

IBM financial activity is very high level because of its sales across the world and its well-
known nickname. In 2010, IBM's brand was valued at $64.7 billion.1 also based on the
information that IBM released in its website, in year 2010, IBM´s revenue was $99.9
billion, net income was $14.8 billion and total assets was $113.5.These values beside the
technological resources of IBM is very considerable in comparison of other companies in
this filed.2

Intangible resources
Next group of resources, intangible resource, are discussed in this sub-section.

o Innovation resources:
IBM innovation in different areas of IT technology turns it one of the leader companies in
IT field in the world. IBM is dealing with a very wide range of products mainly located in
IT technology like manufacturing computer hardware ranging from mainframe computers

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 to nanotechnology also preparing software, applications and services and finally offering
infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in IT filed.

o Knowledge Management:
For a huge company like IBM with thousands projects, accessing to a organized system
for knowledge exchange between different sections is very vital and IBM has one of the
best system for such a knowledge exchange and management.

o Human resources:
IBM´s number of employees (worldwide) is 426,751 and its stockholders of record are
525,870.11 This huge numbers and wide range of human resources of IBM which one of
the highest in the world can reflect the capability and key role of human resources of the
IBM.

o Reputational Resources:
IBM, based on its different branches and factors in all around the world and also
hundreds of thousands employers, turned to one of the biggest company in the world and
part of a backbone of US economy. IBM receives orders from almost every place and has
markets in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Also lots of companies and
technologies are depended on the products which IBM develops.

Capabilities:
IBM is one of the world's largest information technology company and also the biggest provider
of IT services, hardware and rental and financing. IBM has lots of branches around the world and
conducts business in more than 170 countries.9

IBM has a very well-known nickname and also prominent features among all companies around
the world. Some of IBM features in 2011 ranked by Fortune and Forbes are9, 10, 11:

o IBM is the second-largest publicly traded technology company in the world by market
capitalization.
o The first ranked company for its leaders
o The second best global brand of the world
o The first ranked green company in the world
o The 12th most admired company
o The 18th most innovative company

Core Competences:
The core competences of a company are its inherent strength that empowers the company to
sustain and compete in the market. IBM has different metrics which shows its successful core
competence.

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IBM has lots of large scale manufacturing units and each unit is developed based on a group in
the company. The whole organisation structure can be categorized like9:

o Sales & Distribution Group.

o Global Business Services Group.
o Global Technology Services Group.
o Software Group.
o Systems & Technology Group
o Integrated Operations Group.
o Innovation & Technology Group.

IBM provided a wide and efficient network for connecting the designers, products, and
customers. Modern technology like internet and microelectronic application which IBM itself is
very capable in it beside some other medias like TV and magazines, leaflets and so on help
IBM to sustain this network.
IBM ability to designing secure and efficient products, having a very old history in IT field in the
world, diversities in products ranging from personal customers for individual people, group of
people, governments and even international organizations, ideal distribution and customer
satisfaction give a dominant position to IBM in the market.

Competitive Advantages:
IBM is activate in different fields, produce a wide range of products, has branches and firms in
lots of countries and has market in more than 170 countries of the world which is almost entire of
the world. To handling such a huge company, IBM should handle different challenges and
achieve efficient competitive policies and strategies to stay in an advantageous position. Some of
its key competitive advantages are listed below:

o Effective Cost Control:

Because of IBM experiences in IT, it is very successful in managing information,
contacting with customers, using new technology and so on which leads to controlling
company´s costs and managing the financial stuff.
o Location Factor:
IBM main firm is located in US and because of US key role in IT, IBM can have useful
interactions with high quality research organization, high level universities, other huge
companies in IT firms like Microsoft and Apple which are located in US too. Many of
IBM products have customers and are ordered from these centres to IBM and then have
developed more in them.
o Well-known and Popular Brand:
As mentioned before, IBM is one of the best in ranking lists in terms of different factors
especially popularity and brand. IBM is the first ranked company for its leaders and the
second best global brand of the world.2

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 o Global presence:
IBM is one the most multidimensional active company which is highly international and
dominate in IT field in the world which nowadays more or less is familiar for whole
people of the world.

Critical Success Factors/ Key Success Factors:

IBM reached to a very high class of successful based on the features that were mentioned
however some of most key of these features can be shortly listed as bellow:

o The key role of IBM in IT technology and concepts in the world

o Technologic dependency of big companies and organizations to IBM
o Having a very big market in the world
o Having a very successful and attractive history for customers
o Accessing to huge resources especially in terms of human educated resources

SWOT Analysis of IBM:

Through the combination of both external and internal situation of company like strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats we can achieve to a better vision of company. This section
will help us to achieve this target by SWOT using tool.

Strengths:
o Based on most of the current ranking, IBM is between three first world biggest
technology corporations and also between three word‘s most valuable brands.
o IBM is the first IT Company in the world which was established in the first of 19th
century.
o IBM had many spin-offs and acquisitions some noticeable are: SAP and Lenovo.
o IBM is the first ranked hosted company in Western Europe.
o IBM Company is very highly innovative.
o IBM is very prominent in terms of competitive workforce. IBM has 6 noble prize
winners, 9 national medals of technology and 5 national medals of science.
o IBM has a very wide range of services like computer hardware and software,
infrastructure services, consulting services and hosting services.
o According to the Forbes ranking list, IBM is the second biggest in comparison of market
capitalization and the second biggest services employer.
o IBM has seized more copyrights than any other US based Technology Corporation and
has eight research laboratories globally.

Weaknesses:
o IBM Company acts in reactionary mode, relying on supplier end of quarter information
EMS self-reporting.
o IBM has one the most world‘s complex supply chain system.
o IBM does not have maintainable in house supply chain system.

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 o IBM is too relied on partners' and supplier‘s' reports and management systems.
o IBM's sales of system and service segments are decreasing.
o Total properties are progressively decreasing.

Opportunities:
o Nowadays more people are becoming familiar with new technology which is potentially a
good opportunity for IBM.
o Business analytics continues to be the hot spot for IBM and continues to grow
o Cloud computing is a new path for IBM´s success
o The growth rate of information Technology in some under development countries like
India, Russia, China, and Brazil prepare a good opportunity and market for IBM.
o Smarter planet initiative opens unique market for IBM´s golden opportunities
o New technology based on internet prepare new tools for cheaper worldwide
telecommunication and it is a new market for IBM
o Cell phone and tablet markets are growing very rapidly

Threats:
o IBM should maintain one of the most complex and largest supply chains in the world.
o IBM has different strong competitive companies like Microsoft, Apple, Dell, etc.
o The customers should be very satisfied and it is very hard because many alternative
products are available to buyers.
o IBM is multidimensional and international companies which is active in different
countries. So it should adopt itself to local governmental laws.
o The Increasing rate of cybercrime is also creating problems for the success of company.
o New technologies life is very short.

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 Chapter 3
Marketing Analysis of IBM
IBM is a centenary company that survived from different events and analyzes strategies from a
company like that is something complex. The ―Big Blue‖ has been an international company for
decades. Global marketing and communications have posed very new challenges in dealing with
global competition and more readily accessible markets.

Marketing according to Kotler (1985), is the process of planning and executing the conception,
pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services, organizations and events to
create exchanges that will satisfy individual and organizational objectives. So the formulation of
marketing strategy has vital importance to the achievement of the goals of an organization. IBM
is an example of how a good marketing management brings direct results to the company profits.
IBM's success is based primarily on their ability to assist consumers in solving problems through
the use of computers and information systems. The team seeks to understand customer needs and
buying behavior of several members of the unit of decision-making, positioning IBM as a partner
for customers, analyzing and proposing solutions. IBM‘s approach is recognized as the sole
supplier of information systems to meet qualified consumers. Customer needs are met through
training, technical assistance and service teams. The strategy of value-added IBM provides
additional benefits by people who understand the consumers‘ need. This strategy distinguishes
the company and became a key factor for success.

The IBM tradition of superior customer service is legendary. It was one of the three "Basic
Beliefs" held by ―IBMers‖ in the last century. An IBM chairman Thomas J. Watson, Jr., said in
1962: "We want to give the best customer service of any company in the world. The relationship
between the [IBMer] and the customer, their mutual trust, the importance of reputation, the idea
of putting the customer first -- always -- all these things, if carried out with real conviction by a
company, can make a great deal of difference in its destiny." (IBM.com)

Figure – 1.1: IBMers Value (Source: http://bit.ly/tNa28R)

In this way seems clear that the Big Blue is a client oriented organization. They dedicate the
business to ―every client‘s success‖ (figure 1) and they try to be as close as possible to the
costumers and develop a relationship of trust, which is very important and a key factor for any
company success. The company is driven by clients and markets and not by technology and

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marketing is judged on the success of the business, and not just be about advertising and
communications. Marketing for IBM leads the transition to a more organized, client-focused and
segmented channel system. The company during the long existence took different decisions and
assumed different strategies just to bring up the best solutions to their clients.

Disciplines and Specialties of IBM´s Marketing:

IBM has a very organized marketing structure. It is well planned and implemented vertically
within and horizontally across all main disciplines. The main marketing disciplines of IBM are9:

 Marketing Management
 Market Intelligence
 Distribution Channels Management
 Technical Support Marketing
 Integrated Marketing Communications
 Marketing Operations
 Brand Management
 Market Research

In each and every discipline of marketing, IBM has its expert professional marketers and think
tanks who make sure that the marketing remains as effective as its products and services. In each
of the above specialties IBM has defined the roles and characteristics for the marketing
professionals. According to the recent information on their portal9, IBM defines the following
characteristics which are quite simple and straightforward.

 Coordinating internal and external resources effectively

 Developing measurable strategies and action plans that achieve goals
 Using market intelligence to create executable business plans
 Developing targeted programs that achieve business goals
 Applying the IBM Brand Management System effectively to all activities
 Knowing IBM's short- and long-term business strategies
 Understanding competitive trends and responding effectively
 Understanding IBM global operations
 Working in cross-functional teams
 Applying financial management concepts to business activities
 Understanding the CRM processes
 Applying the IBM Market Planning Process
 Applying project management techniques
 Self-motivating in maintaining currency in a selected discipline

Through cooperative strategies (e.g., strategic alliances and joint ventures, both of which are
defined and discussed in this chapter), IBM finds itself working with a variety of firms in order
to deliver products and services. However, IBM has specific performance-related objectives it

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wants to accomplish as it engages in an array of cooperative arrangements. For example, with
regard to its systems business, IBM works to develop leading-edge chip technology. In order to
do this it has formed five separate alliances to develop the most advanced semiconductor
research and expand its facilities by purchasing the latest chip-making equipment1.

IBM´s Marketing and Advertising Processes and Media:

IBM targets its customers, clients and the general public about its products and services in
various different ways. The advertisements of IBM are found widely in all types of electronic
and print media. Most of the advertisements are run over the TV and internet. IBM marketers
cleverly manage their advertisements which are very successful over others.

The environment is always changing and the context in which business operates is also in
constant change. Corporations have well established, very successful, tried and true models and
mechanisms and tactics to reach customers, the press, employees. IBM was always a case of
success for marketer‘s management studies. The company has a long history and a picture could
be done in any moment for a marketing analyze.

The Brand IBM:

Branding and brand management are integral parts of marketing. Branding creates strong sense
of marketing and marketing becomes easier when the brand is strong. A good brand indicates
that it is valuable, trusted, reliable and above all popular. According to Interbrand, the biggest
brands of the world in 2010 are:

TABLE – 3.1: TOP TEN BRANDS OF 201120

Brand Brand Value
1 Coca-Cola 71,861 ($m)
2 IBM 69,905 ($m)
3 Microsoft 59,087 ($m)
4 Google 55,317 ($m)
5 GE 42,808 ($m)
6 McDonald's 35,593 ($m)
7 Intel 35,217 ($m)
8 Apple 33,492 ($m)
9 Disney 29,018 ($m)
10 Hewlett-Packard 28,479 ($m)

IBM maintains its position at number 2 among the best brands of the world. It indicates the
reliability, trust and effective marketing and brand management of this great company. In the war
of branding IBM uses both its traditional as well as the emerging intelligence to gain the points.

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As we have indicated that IBM uses both traditional as well as the smart means for its marketing,
the same approach and more sophisticated intelligence is applied for brand management as well.

From the following diagram it is clear how IBM has come above Microsoft in the last five years.
Its brand management initiative of 1994 is showing its worth. Its brand value has increased by
almost 40% from 2002 to 2011. Of course in the coming years it has to compete hard with
Google and Apple.

Figure – 3.2: Brand Positions of Different Biggest Brands of the World (Source: Interbrand 20)

Internet marketing approach for IBM:

The proliferation of electronic channels — from email to social and mobile media — has opened
up many more possibilities for meaningful communications with customers, this ―online channel
sprawl‖ has led to confusion and information overload. Marketers need better analytics tools to
turn data into action overall and particularly in social media for which being there simply isn‘t
enough to win friends and drive business results. The good news is that the proliferation of
electronic channels, from the now-familiar email to the new terrains of social and mobile media,
has opened up many more possibilities for meaningful communications with our customers. The
bad news: With rapid channel proliferation comes mass confusion. In an environment already
suffering from information overload, each new channel, tactic, and tool generates a flood of data
that demands attention.
There is a lot of news around what new Web 2.0 applications and models software companies
are building. However, long after the software is built, the number of sites actually running them
will probably vastly outnumber them. Consider when the web was built and the number of

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companies focused on building different kinds of browsers and applications. Some of them are
still here and others gone, but the actual number of organizations deploying web sites far
outnumbers those who created them

Once the internet gained the web 2.0 concepts, people could interact with the network, which
was not possible before. Previously, a small group was responsible for producing content for big
groups to view. An organization could for example publish a website showing all their portfolios
but could not see the direct feedback from the people who were watching it; the consumers could
not contact the organization directly by the web. It was one way communication.

The ―Big Blue‖ is a leading-edge company and is on with this new scenario. Maybe the company
is kind of responsible for the changes, once it is always improving the relationship with clients.
In terms of web 2.0 IBM brings very interesting solutions, mainly for social networks and
communities relations.

Online communities started to become a way to watch different groups and different areas. Its
therefore represent a way for organizations to interact directly with their customers, partners, and
even competitors. It creates the opportunity for new relationships with groups, and that is one of
its greatest promises and achievements. With the web 2.0 tools it becomes much easier to
discover, form, and manage relationships, as well as interact, collaborate and interface across
them.

Community is a commonly used term, but also one of the vaguest within the social sciences. It
has been defined in many ways. A community is basically, a social group in which the members
are together and sharing common interests (McMillan 1986, p. 08). Community needs to be
about the community members. A community is a place where people are together and
connected in a purposeful way. For the members, it might be a destination of choice.
(Baughman, 2009).

For marketers community concept is very important, once in group the people can feel truly
involved, they really belong and can share interesting topics with each other “The sense of
belonging and identification involves the feeling, belief, and expectation that one fits in the group
and has a place there, a feeling of acceptance by the group, and a willingness to sacrifice for the
group. The role of identification must be emphasized here. It may be represented in the
reciprocal statements “It is my group” and “I am part of the group” (D. W. Mcmillan, 1986, p.
10). When someone chooses to be a member, chooses to be a part of something, the feeling of
belonging or sharing a sense of personal relations. When a person chooses to be a member,
chooses to belong or not, it brings an emotional feeling, a responsibility.

It is common to think that internet community is a light thing and to not trust that a community
can have a value and can change a situation or a company business. In fact, community already
exists, it just was not connected by the internet. So the community can be crucial and help the
main decisions, not something light or without value.

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Social media platforms enhance the power of online communities (community-roundtable.com,
2011): they promote deep relationships, allow fast organization, improve the creation and
synthesis of knowledge, and permit better filtering of information. The social media is a topic
that many people like to talk about, it is something really new and that creates a lot of attention
on internet discursions. Everyone wants to be there, to participate and discover the new tools.
However, online communities are not completely related with social media. Community gives
people destinations, it is a place where the people can interact and connect. If you think about
your own life or if you think about your neighborhood for example it is a place that has a
personal connection to you, it is a place that draws you. The trick for a community is to create
that magical place for people to come to and interact.

The American company knows that the social media platforms are important however are
developing their own social network space. Though many users of social networks like Facebook
and Twitter have seen an increase in success and well being because of their involvement on
social networks, these early adopters, are new experiencing ―social network fatigue.‖ There are
just too many social networks, and not enough time to continue making good use from each and
every one of them. So the people will look for communities of interest and group themselves
according to the things they want to.

Figure – 3.3: IBM Twitter page (Source: https://twitter.com/#!/ibm)

IBM has a facebook account but it is not been used in a very active way. They seem to know that
the social media platform can change and they prefer to develop a sustainable internet marketing
way. On Twitter (figure 3) and Linked in (figure 4) they do have an active account. It is
important to note that the community managers are the same for both accounts (Twitter and
Linked in). The consumers know the managers names and know that the company is there
thought them.

The company also ensures the members that the pages follow the IBM computing guidelines. In
this way the people know that the information is secure and reliable. Online communities are just
the same people in the "conventional" communities now going together in a virtual environment.
The big difference is that online means that this group is in the web and everyone can join,
especially by interest, regardless of physical distance. Thus, groups grow and gain strength
faster. Concerns remain within the communities, the anthropological and sociological sense of
being a member. Basically people seek fulfillment of personal needs and want to feel special, so
they look for others with common needs and together they go to achieve the common goals. IBM

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is aware and giving the clients the best solutions and also helping other companies to develop
internet marketing strategies creating tools and solutions.
(http://www.theinteractivemarketingjourney.com/)

Figure – 3.4: IBM Linked in page (Source: http://www.linkedin.com/company/ibm)

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 Chapter 4
Strategic Human Resource Management at IBM

In this chapter, we present the strategic human resource management and global talent
management of IBM. The reason why we choose the SHRM or the strategic human resource
management is that it is key to IBM´s unique business strategy. IBM is different from many
other companies and invests heavily on the innovations. These innovation and advanced cutting
edge technology frontiers are IBM´s strongest and most precious possessions. All these are
possible due to very well-organized team of talents and human resources. In this chapter we
explain how IBM manages its human resources strategically to groom the leaders of the world of
tomorrow.
Key figures9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15 of IBM´s Human Resources

Number of Employee(2010): 426,751

Number of Innovation Projects(Projected till 2011): 78,000+
Total Number of Patents IBM Involved in Creation (Worldwide): 300,000+
Number of Patents Created Last Year: 20,000+
Number of US Patents Filed by IBM Last Year: 18,000+
Number of US Patents Granted to IBM Last Year: 5,896
Money IBM got from Patents This Year: 12+ billion USD
Position of IBM in Patent Creation: 1
Number of Nobel Laureates: 6
Number of Turing Award Winners 6

What is HRM?
HRM or human resource management is basically, a management function or collection of
several functions, which connects the employee and employer of an organization for all aspects
of its operations. Normally it covers every aspect from beginning to end of employment of a
human being and his/her activities. HRM helps integrating the workforce with the organization
and its environment. HRM also motivates employees to work as a team and put them together as
an integral part of the organization. In return it facilitates them to achieve economic, social and
mental satisfaction. Human Resource management is otherwise known as the human resource
information system, which is a co-ordination or conjunction between human capital and
information system.

The field of human resource management or HRM became popular with the growing demands
for human rights. It started after the Second World War and HRM is now well documented in the
management literatures across the globe. HRM perhaps got the early attention in the 1950s, when
writers like Drucker and McGregor stressed the need for visionary leadership and effective
management. Then in the 1960s, Maslow, Argyris and Herzberg brought the ´behavioural
science model´ to management. All these scholars emphasised the importance of human
resources in organisations and wanted its implementation in the companies. ‗Human resource
accounting‘ (HRA) theory developed by Flamholtz was an outcome of these sequential
developments in the field of HRM and thought to be the origin of HRM. This HRA considered

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human resources as assets for any organisation and its importance grew up. The last thirty years
then witnessed rapid developments in the field of HRM, which are an outcome of a number of
factors such as growing competitions, slow economic growth in the Western developed nations,
realisation about the prospects of HRM‘s contribution towards firms‘ performance, creation of
HRM chairs in universities and HRM-specific positions in the industry, introduction of HRM
into MBA and other management curricula in the early 1980s, and a continuous emphasis on the
involvement of HRM strategy in the business strategy.
IBM had a strong value for its employees since the beginning. It was strengthened further when
Thomas J. Watson, Jr. took the charges of the company. HRM is continued to be one of the key
strategic areas for IBM.

Why HRM?
Big or small, most of the companies are now having an HRM wing or its equivalent for the
proper management and co-ordination of their human resources. It helps the core management in
many aspects, like analyzing the work load, stress level, motivation factor, expectations, work
satisfactions, efficiencies and innovation abilities of its workforce. It bridges the gap between the
management and the workforce. Makes the staff feel free and work better. It motivates the staff
for improvement and leadership. It also makes road for the future human resources who would
successfully lead and run the company. IBM is a leader in this management aspect.

Figure - 4.1: Hierarchy of Strategic Decision Making17

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These days, HRM is an integral part of a company´s strategic model and key to manage the
human related aspects of the day to day activities. It plays important roles in strategy formulation
and action.

What is strategic human resource management?

According to the HRM experts, strategic human resource management is the process of linking
the human resource function with the strategic objectives of the organization in order to improve
performance. For example, if a global company is to function successfully, strategies at different
levels need to inter-relate. It facilitates the strategies to be implemented effectively and
efficiently. An organization‘s human resource management policies and practices must fit with
its strategy in its competitive environment and with the immediate business conditions that it
faces. The human resources–business strategy alignment cannot necessarily be characterized in
the logical and sequential way suggested by some writers; rather, the design of an HR system is a
complex and iterative process.

Figure – 4.2: Devanna et al.´s strategic human resource model16, 17

According to Devanna et al. human resource management is an integral part of basic strategic
framework. It acts as the organizational structure maker and implements the mission and
strategic policies in different actions. It brings the balance between the external forces and
internal structure of the firm. Skillful and intellectual workforces are always big assets for
companies. It is an integral part of SHRM to recruit and retain the talented people. It is a
planning for and to select the present and the future human capital which is necessary for any
organization to achieve global objective and success for a company. In the modern world there is
growing demand for talented human capital.

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People - Key to IBM´s Success:
IBM is all about computing, innovation, advanced and smart technologies. All these are done my
skilled workforce of IBM. Unlike, most of the other companies, IBM does not depend on mass
manufacturing, hard manual work or mass mobility. Rather most of works demand advanced
skills and training. Starting from supercomputers to advanced storage network, object-oriented
design to UML, Cloud computing to business process computing, artificial intelligence to high
performance computing everywhere IBM needs highly skillful people and it has got many of
them.
IBM produces high number of patents in all areas of electronics and computing. It is one of the
world leaders on artificial intelligence. Since the last two decades it is the unrivalled corporate
analytic. Most of its money comes from the smart technologies unlike the tradition products of
other companies. All these are nothing but the outcome of smart workforce of IBM.

Strategic HR management at IBM:

Strategic human resource management is a key part of its overall strategy. That is clear from the
amount spent by IBM for its people. It spends a lot in training, innovation, research and
development. This stress on human resources was not that primary in IBM till the forties. But
when Thomas Watson Jr., took charge of IBM, he realized its importance and added the skillful
people in IBM. That trend became a tradition in IBM for years. That is why Peter Drucker in his
book Practice of Management said that it was in fact Watson Jr., who built the real IBM not his
father. In the sixties, seventies and eighties, IBM saw a great migration of talents into its
business. Many of them also left IBM to start their own ventures. Microsoft and Oracle are some
of its examples, which were founded by the IBM employees Bill Gates and Larry Elision. These
trends not only enriched IBM but also the world technologies as well.

These practices however became trivial gradually in the late eighties. In the early nineties IBM
started making losses. In 1993, it lost more than 7 billion USD, which was the biggest loss of
that time. Its CEO resigned. All these happened due to some flaws in the strategic HRM. Staff of
IBM at that time used to be very complacent and many of them used to think that IBM never lays
off its employee. But the new CEO Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., changed that concept. He laid off
34,000 employees to cut the costs. In fact he warned the non-performers. Whole industry was
rejuvenated and the SHRM was redefined through different strategies and policies. It brought
IBM back to the limelight. Gerstner became a hero for IBM.

Randy MacDonald became the senior VP of SHRM for IBM Corporation in 2000. In 2003 she
laid out new strategic HRM policies which got implemented gradually during the Sam Palmisano
years. IBM‘s strategic movements as a leader of global transformation and the evolving needs of
global clients got elevated during these years. In fact what really changed these years in IBM is
mainly its SHRM. New WMI or Workforce Management Initiative was introduced and it gave a
lot of fruitful outcomes. Sam Palmisano would step down as a successful CEO of IBM at the end
of this year.

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WMI was a new initiative of IBM for effective manpower management. It brought many new
steps to monitor the resources, processes, policies and people. It also provided the optimality in
management and the true SHRM was realized in IBM.

Figure - 4.3: Workforce Management Initiative of IBM18

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In return the WMI was a miracle for IBM. It was able to have a clear picture of its strategic
moves. The changes in the other sectors were clearly understandable and the complexities were
reduced to a large extent.

Figure – 4.4: The benefits of WMI @ IBM18

As shown in the above diagram, WMI provided better clarity in resource management, supplier
management, talent management and integrated them all together. Obviously, it was an optimal
tool for the management. It transformed the traditional IBM to a smart IBM in a decade.

Uniqueness of IBM´s Global Talent Management:

As we have mentioned in the key figures of human resources in the beginning of this chapter,
IBM produces more than 15000 new patents every year in this new millennium. It is due to the
presence of lot of talented researchers, engineers and scientists. IBM believes in the ‗nurture the
talent in the school‘ ideology. That means IBM has many policies in place to attract the young
talents from the universities around the world. In every continent it attracts the talents through
different schemes and programmes.

IBM Fellowship Programmes:

IBM has fellowship and scholarship programmes in all measure countries around the world. It
also gives chance to the bright students through different competitions at the university levels.

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Many universities have associated labs of IBM. The Thomas Watson Research Centre at New
York accepts hundreds of post docs every year in all major areas of science and engineering. It is
unique at this level and some other companies follow these practices of IBM. Of course, it is also
true that T J Watson research centre is the largest research organization of the world having its
centers in six different countries.

Diversity as Strategy:
IBM is a company whose products are not for individual customers rather for the companies or
business entities. Still it is one of the companies well known to almost all educated people in the
world. How this is possible? In fact IBM wants to be close to every country, every community,
every race and every faith. It adopts the diversity as its strategy to get close to the people of
every class. IBM employs from every community and race. This is how it is regarded as one of
the most admired companies around the world.

The Expertise Taxonomy:

Expertise taxonomy is the hierarchical framework that IBM uses as a standardized enterprise-
wide language and structure. This language enables IBM to plan, develop and deploy its talented
resources consistently across all geographies and business units. This taxonomy identifies things
such as job roles, job roll skill sets and skills creating common descriptors what people do.

Highly Organized Job Roles:

In March 2005, the HRM team came up with 650 job roles in IBM. After the initial 650 roles
were developed, the big push was to get all the jobs into the system. It was too complex to look
after and co-ordinate. So these roles were merged and reduced to 331 different roles. It was a
fantastic organization of the total workforce. This is how the management and policy
implementation became effective today.

Overall SHRM Structure of IBM:

In this chapter we have gone through the main strategic human resource policies of IBM. We
have also discussed their implementation and action related issues. IBM´s global talent
management and its effectiveness are also been analyzed. Here we finally want to show the
overall structure of IBM´s SHRM hierarchy after the WMI implementation by Randy McDonald
and other strategists.

IBM’s GIE for Effective Management:

Since 2003 the SHRM of IBM has under gone many transformations and new initiatives have
been introduced. We have already mentioned the WMI and its effectiveness. There were also
other initiatives. These initiatives are followed globally by IBM. It is well known as global
integrated enterprise. GIE (or Global Integrated Enterprise) was coined by Sam Palmisano the
CEO of IBM. Under GIE talent management and recruitment are given prime importance. Talent
management or human capital management is now the vital management part for any

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organization in order to achieve the competitive advantage. It is the main pillar behind the
success of IBM. Knowledge, technical know-how, motivation, skill and deployment of IBM‘S
human capital resource is one of the important competitive advantages in comparison to its all
competitors.
SHRM Structure of IBM after the GIE Implementation18

The above GIE is followed by hundreds of management groups around the world now who are
present globally. The support and collaboration between different sections of the in different
countries and territories becomes quite smooth through this. IBM leads the way in this direction
and becomes an example for others.

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 Chapter 5
Miscellaneous Business and Corporate Level Analysis of IBM

In this chapter we provide the effective business and corporate level policies and strategies of
IBM which are applied recently and make the roads for the future. The mergers, acquisitions and
alliances have played effective roles in its business processes. Overall IBM has shifted its focus
from its traditional targets to new frontiers. Here we present those issues and policies which are
focused towards the future of IBM.

Shift of Paradigms for IBM:

IBM is gradually evolving and along with it evolves its main focus to the business and target
areas. Once upon a time IBM was a well known as a PC company, mainly in the eighties. But
then it focused mainly on software and services (even it sold its Think Pad laptop business to
Lenovo). Then it headed towards the knowledge market and now heading towards innovation
oriented smart and new technologies of tomorrow. After closing its PC market IBM brought
Watson, a high performance analytics computer to the market. Its commitment towards
intelligence and innovation are paying the dividends quite understandably. From the following
graph it is clear how the focus is shifting and the trend of growth is right on track.
Hardware 
Services 
Knowledge 
Innovation 

Figure – 5.1: Changes in Focus and the Annual Income till 2015 (projected) (Source: IBM A. R. 2010) 8

In data analytics IBM is getting a lion‘s share and most of its software operation is oriented
towards this. IBM took over SPSS, just to bolster its analytics. Now there are interesting projects
coming to its kitty on data analytics and its related consulting services. The emerging market

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revenues continue to raise and would reach 30% of the total revenue by 2015 and 50% by 2022.
That is the awareness IBM wants to keep alive in its workforce and increasing its presence in
these fast growing countries. IBM used to have the dominance in the mainframe sector and it
continues to remain. But the arrival of Watson is really interesting to see. May be Watson is a
smart approach to continue that dominance. But the selling of Think Pad is a clear strategy that
IBM does not want to stay in the already congested PC market. But it has the strong outlook for
innovation oriented products which it can control remotely through its patents and other
intellectual properties.

Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances:

Mergers and acquisitions are very much market driven as far as IBM is concerned. These days
the IBM is ready to form alliances to bolster its position and business. IBM has more than 90,000
business partners9 worldwide, including different types of consultants, integrators, software
vendors, value-added resellers and distributors. Also it has acquired around hundred companies
since 1911. Most of them happened in the last decade when IBM tried hard to come back to the
pole position. The interesting part is that many of its competitors are also its alliance partners.
For example Oracle and SAP are both competitor and alliance for IBM.

TABLE – 5.1: Major Acquisitions of IBM since 20019, 11

Company Year Benefits to IBM
1 PWC Consulting 2002 IBM used this acquisition for its own consulting services and related projects
2 Rational Rose 2003 It helped the IBM developers to organize their work in a very effective way.
Lead the way in object oriented programming through UML.
3 Ascential 2005 It helped in the enterprise information integration.
4 FileNet 2006 Helped in the content management of software
5 Cognos 2006 Business intelligence was bolstered in IBM
6 SPSS 2009 Statistical analysis became a signature of IBM
7 Unica 2010 Helped in marketing analysis and consulting
8 Sterling 2010 Business software integration became very easy for IBM
9 Netezza 2010 Data warehousing and analytics got a new dimension

TABLE – 5.2: Major Alliances with IBM9

Company Rival? Benefits to IBM
1 Cisco No Mutual help in networking and system level tasks
2 Dassult Systems No Helping clients achieve competitive advantage from product lifecycle management
3 Oracle Yes Award-winning strategic alliance with Oracle enables IBM to provide their clients
with optimized Oracle, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards business solutions
4 SAP Yes IBM and SAP provide a full range of top-to-bottom, end-to-end solutions that can
help you manage your extended value network. We've been working together
delivering cost-effective solutions for 30 years in virtually every industry
5 Siebel Yes CRM solutions that improve and lower total cost of ownership

Product and Service Oriented Strategies of IBM:

Product and service oriented strategies are important for IBM which has a large number of
products and services. In the following table IBM´s product and service level strategies are
presented with current examples and outcomes.

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 TABLE – 5.3: Product and Service Oriented Strategies of IBM
IBM Products Competitiors IBM‘s Strategy Remarks
1 Hardware for Computing 1. In mainframe area there is no 1. Continues to dominate In mainframe business IBM
1. Mainframes effective competitors of IBM in Mainframes has blue ocean strategy and
2. Supercomputers 2. In supercomputer the main 2. IBM intently try to in supercomputers it has
3. Watson competitors are Cray, NEC and bring best talents to near blue ocean.
HP this area Watson is a big hope of
3. Watson has no competitor now 3. It is unique now IBM.

2 Software 1. In big business solution IBM has 1. IBM will keep its IBM mainly focus on big
1. Big Business no able competitors expertise to dominate businesses and analytics but
Solutions 2. In system software IBM this field in software development it
2. System software and competes with Accenture, HP, 2. IBM it trying to is not very much involved
analytics Oracle, TCS, Infosys and other keep the costs low like the Indian IT
Asian and European software companies
companies
3 Consulting There are numerous competitors like IBM exploits this market IBM keeps winning in this
PeopleSoft and Seibel. But IBM is through its unique market
dominant in the big business and marketing, expert
government consulting than its manpower and advanced
competitors. technology
4 IT Services Numerous IBM is trying hard to cut IBM is growing in this area
the costs by outsourcing quite fast
its IT projects to India
and China
5 Smart Technologies Apple, Google, HP, Nokia, Siemens, IBM creates patents in IBM may emerge as the
EMC etc. these areas and certainly leader in this area
has an edge
6 Innovative Products There is no one near IBM as far as This is a prime policy of IBM will keep dominating
 Patents the patent creation is concerned. IBM to remain at the in this area for many years
forefront of innovation to come

Conclusions
In this case study we analyzed the main strategic areas of IBM, which makes it a market leader
and a great company. In the first chapter, the external analysis of IBM is done through the
effective tools. Then the internal analysis is provided with its characteristic strengths, values,
competences etc. In the third chapter we look at the effective marketing and brand management
strategies which make IBM a household name though it does not serve the common people
directly. In the fourth chapter, IBM´s key policies for human resource management are analyzed.
IBM´s success is due to its skilled and smart workforce. The business and corporate level
strategies and its outcomes are analyzed in the fifth and last chapter.

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