IBM: THE RISE AND FALL AND REINVENTION OF A GLOBAL ICON

James W. Cortada

ISBN 10: 0262039443 / ISBN 13: 9780262039444

Published by The MIT Press, Massachusetts, 2019

About this Item

Fine in a Fine dust jacket. Light staining on side text block edge. ; 9.2 X 6.5 X 1.9 inches; 752 pages.

Seller Inventory # 304633

Bibliographic Details

• Title: IBM: THE RISE AND FALL AND REINVENTION OF A GLOBAL ICON
• Publisher: The MIT Press, Massachusetts
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262039443
• ISBN 13: 9780262039444
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition; First Printing.
• Seller catalogs:
  • Geography, Environmental Studies and Global Aff...
  • Other

About this title

Synopsis

A historian offers an authoritative history of the successes and failures of his former employer, IBM—considered one of the most influential American companies of the last century.
 
For decades, IBM shaped the way the world did business. IBM products were in every large organization, and IBM corporate culture established a management style that was imitated by companies around the globe. It was “Big Blue”—an icon. And yet over the years, IBM has gone through both failure and success, surviving flatlining revenue and forced reinvention. The company almost went out of business in the early 1990s, then came back strong with new business strategies and an emphasis on artificial intelligence. In this authoritative, monumental history, James Cortada tells the story of one of the most influential American companies of the last century.
 
A historian who worked at IBM for many years, Cortada examines IBM throughout the decades, offering insights on the company’s:
 
• Technology Breakthroughs: the punch card (1890s), the calculation and printing of Social Security checks (1930s), the introduction of the PC to a mass audience (1980s), and the shift from hardware to software.
• Business Culture
• Global expansion
• Regulatory and Legal Issues
• CEOs
 
The secret to IBM’s unequalled longevity in the information technology market, Cortada shows, is its capacity to adapt to changing circumstances and technologies.

About the Author

James W. Cortada is Senior Research Fellow at the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota and the author of Information and the Modern Corporation (MIT Press) and other books. He worked at IBM for thirty-eight years in sales, consulting, managerial, and research positions.