Learning from IBM...despite NY Times Glowing Article

IBM is in the throes of change in order to survive against global competition, and the message should be clear to us all. The New York Times article referred to IBM as a nimble giant that is running as fast as it can to move up the specialization food chain, re-organize into a global structure, and shed itself on low profit product lines.

The Valley Wag attributed the New York Times gentle handling of IBM to the ad dollars the company applies to full page print ads. Be that as it may, aren’t we all microcosm equivalents of the Big Blue macrocosm.  Geoffrey Moore, in Dealing with Darwin, talks about how a company must evolve or become extinct. As professionals, don’t we all?

The Times asked, “The unanswered question about I.B.M. is, Can the new, higher-margin business grow fast enough to offset the maturing of its traditional services business and rising competition from the Indian outsourcers?”

There may not be an answer at this point but the question, in some form or other, is one that needs to be addressed by every worker and company in the USA.  How IBM fares can be the mirror to us all. How can we collectively and individually change, re-tool, specialize and run faster to remain competitive?