Book Summary Who Says Elephant Can't Dance IBM

2.  Company: International Business Machine.
 Author: Louis Genstner, Jr.
 Tenure: April 1993 to March 2002.
 Graduation: Dartmouth College & HBS.
 RJR Nabisco Inc: Chairman & CEO (4 years).
 American Express: Chairman & CEO ( 11 years).
 Also worked for Mckinsey & Company.

3.  Change brought by Louis Gerstner.
 Verge of extinction.
 Rapid changing Computer Industry.
 Management Team and not breaking down.
 Power and Influence.
 One of the most impressive turnaround stories in
business history.

4. Section 1: Four Critical Decisions.
Section 2: Two Big Bets on the Future.
Section 3: Setting the Strategy of the Business.
Section 4: Changing corporate culture at IBM.
Section 5: Key Lessons Learned.

5. Largest corporate loss of $16 billion.
Outsider for the industry.
Thoughtful and not quick decisions.
3,00,000 people on payroll worldwide.
‘State of Art’ research labs.

6. Establishing semi conductor industry, hardware, software, sales and
support.
With UNIX operating system arriving in 1990’s, it suddenly became
possible for companies to start making parts of an overall solution.
Their aspirations were couched in terms of a “Client/Server”
relationship – where the client was the desktop PC and the server was
another computer.

7.  At around the same time, the PC makers also started suggesting that
since they were now being used on the desktops, it was logical to use
PCs in the back-office systems as well.
Section 2:
Two Big Bets on the Future

8. Highest software selling company.
1993: Development on O/S 2 which failed.
Consolidation of software development business under one single manager.
Focus on developing “Middleware Software System” rather than developing
OS.

9. Section 3:
Setting the Strategy for Business
Open Company’s own technology store(1994):
More research than commercialization.
Ability to set new standards and protocol.
Open up new revenue system.
More device, more demand for IBM products.
Unstack the stack and focus IBM initiatives:
Harness the emergence of e-business:
E-Business “Integrating Glue”.
Rewriting to internet enable software's.
New services of “Website Hosting”

10. Three Basic Belief’s By Thompson Watson Sr.:
Excellence in what we do.
Superior customer service.
Respect your individual.

11. Section 4:
Changing the corporate culture
Eight Basic Principles Introduced by Garnster:
Market place as driving force.
Commitment to quality.
Customer satisfaction and shareholder value.
Minimum bureaucracy maximum productivity.
Never loose sight of our strategic vision.
We always work as a team.
Sensitive to needs of employees and communities.
WIN EXECUTE TEAM

12. Successful leaders and organizations have lots of good leadership
available to them.
 Passionate
 Knowledgeable
 Highly Visible
 Driven
 Hands-on
 Change agents
 Even Handed
 Good Communicators
 Tough minded but fair

13. Section 4: Key Lessons Learned
Successful leaders and great business execute well:
World class process are required.
Strategic clarity is needed.
High performance culture allows thing done faster.
People respect what you inspect and not what you expect.
Successful leaders and business are focused:

14. 62.7
71.9
78.5
87.5 85.9
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1993 1995 1997 1999 2001
Year
Revenue ($
billion)
Year Revenue
1993 62.7
1995 71.9
1997 78.5
1999 87.5
2001 85.9

15. -8.1
4.2
6.1
7.7 7.7
-10
-8
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
8
10
1993 1995 1997 1999 2001
Year
Income ($
billion)
Year Income
1993 -3.55
1995 1.76
1997 6.1
1999 7.7
2001 7.7

16. -3.55
1.76
3
4.12 4.35
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
1993 1995 1997 1999 2001
Year
EPS
($)
Year EPS
1993 -3.55
1995 1.76
1997 3
1999 4.12
2001 4.35

17. 12.72 22.84
52.31
107.87
120.96
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
1993 1995 1997 1999 2001
Year
Stock
Price ($)
Year Stock Price
1993 12.72
1995 22.84
1997 52.31
1999 107.87
2001 120.96

18. IBM Webpage. (n.d.). Retrieved January Monday, 2012, from
http://www.ibm.com:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/2071.html
Louis.V.Gerstner. (2008). Who Says Elephants Cant Dance? HarperCollins
Publishers.
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Retrieved january Monday, 2012, from
http://en.wikipedia.org:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_V._Gerstner,_Jr.
 www.imnu.ac.in (logo)