IBM is an American multinational Information technology, consulting and outsourcing firm that has a headquarter in Armonk, New York. It manufactures and sells computer hardware and software. IBM also offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services. IBM is celebrating the 100th anniversary which led by American capitalists Thomas J. Watson Sr. and Thomas J. Watson Jr. During the pre-World War I aggregation of companies, IBM grew. It is known in making machines and some devices into a global technology services. It already received various awards and recognition. In fact, Fortune, a global business magazine published by Time Inc.’s Fortune Money Group, ranked IBM the 18th largest firm in the U.S. and the seventh most profitable.
In global area, the company was ranked the 31st largest firm, it was ranked by Forbes for 2011. They also received different rankings for 2011, these are the number 1 company for leaders by Fortune, number 2 best global brand by the Interbrand, number 1 green company worldwide by Newsweek, number 12 most admired company by Fortune, and number 18 most innovative company by Fast Company. IBM or International Business Machines has an employees of more than 425,000 in over 200 countries, with positions including scientists, engineers, consultants, outsourcers and sales professionals.
IBM also experienced bitter times as the U.S. government brought several antitrust lawsuits against the company. Most critics have attacked it for those allegations with repulsive leader of organizations. When Tom Watson Jr. retired in the year 1971, IBM seemed to lose its way as a largest firm because of it mainframe began to face competition from smaller and more modular systems. IBM experienced a series of annual losses in 1990s. Because of CEO Lou Gerstner, the company started in the mid-90s, the company was starting to get back the profit that they have lost by focusing on software, system integration and other services and that are the reasons why IBM remains in as one of the largest firms in the world. That is the key to the company’s growth.
IBM has more inventions than any other U.S.-based technology company and in fact, it has nine research laboratories all over the world. IBM has a pool of talented individuals. In fact, its employees have won five Nobel Prizes, four Turing Awards, nine National Medals of Technology, and five National Medals of Science. Famous inventions by IBM include the automated teller machine (ATM), the floppy disk, the hard disk drive, the magnetic stripe card, the relational database, the Universal Product Code (UPC), the financial swap, SABRE airline reservation system, DRAM, and Watson artificial intelligence.
IBM is one of the largest and most profitable Information Technology companies in the world. One of the reasons to the success of IBM is outsourcing. It plays an important role in the company’s progress. Outsourcing itself is really helpful in the progress of a certain company or country because it is really cost-effective.
REFERENCE:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217673/100_years_of_IBM_Milestones?taxonomyId=72
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/230435/100_years_of_ibm_milestones.html
http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/software/enterprise_apps/230600173
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217673/100_years_of_IBM_Milestones
