IBM: From Inventor to Innovator

IBM: From Inventor to Innovator
Case Code: BSTR136
Case Length: 11 Pages
Period: 1970 - 2004
Pub Date: 2004
Teaching Note: Not Available
Price: Rs.300
Organization: IBM
Industry: Information Technology
Countries: USA, Global
Themes: Innovation
IBM: From Inventor to Innovator
Abstract Case Intro 1 Case Intro 2 Excerpts

Abstract

IBM had one of the best research facilities in the world and employed world-class research scientists. Over the years, researchers at IBM Research developed a number of products that became the foundations of the IT Industry. However, IBM either failed to commercialize most of the innovations that came out of its labs or was late in marketing them. This led to a number of smaller companies growing big on IBM's innovations. In the 1980s and the early-1990s, IBM transformed itself under the leadership of CEO Louis Gerstner. The transformation involved comprehensive changes, prominent among which were the changes made in the research culture that facilitated faster technology transfer.

Issues

The case is structured to achieve the following teaching objectives:

  • To understand the relationship between research and product development, especially in large technology companies
  • To appreciate the importance of a close relationship between the research wings and the business units of companies to ensure faster commercialization of inventions
  • To examine the importance of culture in organizations and how it supports innovation
  • To analyze the difference between invention and innovation, and the relationship between the two

Contents

Keywords

Innovation, IBM Research, Louis Gerstner, IBM Culture, Sam Palmisano, Database Management Systems, Microprocessor market, IBM Fellows, Deep Blue, Blue Gene, 'on-demand-computing', Xerox, Pacific Bell, PARC, Bell Laboratories

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