IBM Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

Discuss key aspects of the company:

Key aspects of the company are about its operations and industry analysis, the selected company for the report is International Business Machines (IBM).

What is the nature of the company’s business

IBM is offering many services to its clients but the main services are; consulting, IT implementation services, cloud and cognitive offerings, and enterprise system and software. These number of service are provided by the one organization that is IBM, it can simple be said that its services are IT related and software implementation for an organization. It started its operation in 1911 as a Computing-Tabulation-Recording (C-T-R) Company through consolidation of Computing Scale Company of America, The Tabulating Machine Company and The International Time Recording Company New York. Moreover, in 1924, it had been named as IBM. The company creates value for its clients through integrated solutions and products that leverage: data, information technology, deep expertise in industries and business process and board eco-system partners and alliance.

What is its principle industry and where does it stand in relation to others in the industry?

There are five main business segments of IBM where IBM has focused most of its strategies in order to secure a leading position in these segments/industries. These 5 segments could be called as principal industries of IBM. These segments include global services, global technology services, Software manufacturing, systems and technology, and global financing.

The company has made its back breaking efforts in securing a leading position in these industries.

Since the company is a gigantic multinational firm, operating in approximately 175 countries all over the world, the company faces a serious competition in the entire industry. Moreover, the competition varies from different countries to different business segments.

In the business segment Global services, the competition is very high. The major competitors in this segment include Amzon.com, Computer Sciences Corporation, Fujitsu, Google Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) and Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft). IBM has a vast global reach and scale as well as the company has a well-established global delivery model. Moreover, the company possesses widespread technology proficiency, the employees of the company are highly skilled as well as the company is able to cater the customers’ needs in its products and services. These factors have made the company able to compete strongly in this business segment.

The business segment of software manufacturing is highly competitive. The major competitors in this segment include CA, Inc., Microsoft, Oracle Corporation (Oracle), Salesforce.com and SAP. The company makes user friendly softwares with a wide spread range of functionality as well as the businesses are designed in such a way that it could be modified easily with the changing requirements of the client as well as the software manufactured by the company are cost effective. These factors give a competitive advantage to the company to stand tall in the industry.

In the business segment of systems and technology, the major competitors of the company in this industry are, Cisco Systems, Inc. (Cisco), Dell, Inc., EMC Corporation, HP and Oracle. The company has improved its areas of virtualization technologies, software optimization capabilities and diversified operating system capabilities, which has enabled the company to develop a competitive advantage in this segment.

The major competitors in the business segment of Global financing are Cisco and HP, General Electric Company and financial institutions. The company possesses a competitive advantage in this business segment by having a global financing access to capital and its ability to manage increased exposures.

Thus, the company has a good and leading position in the industry as compared to its competitors.IBM Case Solution

How does it generate its revenue?

Since the company focuses on its 5 main business segments, therefore it generates most of its revenue from these 5 segments. The company’s major source of revenue generation is the business segment of Global Technology Services (GTS), as it contributes approximately 40% of the revenue to the total revenue generated by the company.

Moreover, the company generates 19.2%, 27.4%, 10.8%, and 2.2%, of revenue from the business segments Global Business Services, software manufacturing, systems and technology, and the Global Financing respectively (EXHIBIT 3). Since the company is a multi-national company, therefore a significant portion of revenue is generated from the currency differences...............

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