1. What struggles does Lou Gerstner face in his plan to makeIBM network-centric? Consider internal and externalIn order to make Lou Gerstners plan effective he hadto make many changes with in the IBM company. Gerstner setup a team with Jerry York and Richard Thoman along board.
Some changes that were made with in IBM were, a cut back onemployment, reduced expenses, and a stronger customerservice. Gerstner and his new team based their plans oncomputer networks and the products needed to help IBM reachtheir future goals for the company. Some struggles Gerstnerfaced would be, the cut back in employment, I think thiswould have hurt his plan because I would have slowed downthe production of the IBM products also high costs with norevenue would hurt his plan until he could work and fix theproblems. Another problem Gerstner was faced with would bethe process of getting lost customers back to buy IBM2. Must IBMs basic corporate culture change in order toI think that IBMs corporate culture would have changedbecause IBM is following a new structure in order to achieveGerstners goals.. Since employment would be cut back thatmeans that the workers that did stay would have longer hours. Another thing that would change would be the quality andadvancement of the products, since the expense cost would becut down , the quality of the products would decrease. Beingthe expense cost declined the would be no room for advancingthe products and keeping up with the competitors.
3. What strengths does IBM possess that make Gerstners planachievable? How do Gerstners strategies incorporate thoseIBM is a well known name and its been around for along time. I would buy a product from a company who has agood reputation rather then from a brand new company Ivenever heard of. Cutting costs, improvement of customerrelations, and teaming up with other companies to cut costof technology are strategies used by Gerstner. Gerstnercounted on IBMs ability to provide outsourcing and systemsintegration to get its customers involved. By doing this IBMcustomers think that IBM is more responsive to their needs.
IBMs sales have increased at great deal since Gerstnerssplans went into affect. Sometimes it pays to take a risk inBibliography:
