Challenges Sam Palmisano faced as he assumed control of IBM in March 2002:
During the earlier years of operations, IBM was at the forefront of innovation in the field of technology. Applegate et al. (2009) stated that the company produced a series of IT innovations and was regarded as the best place to work. This however was not the case, as the industry grew these innovative ideas began to diminish. The company became more reliant on their existing technologies which can been see as one of the early circumstances that led to the future issues faced by IBM. In the case analysis done in 2009 by Applegate et al. explained this as being asleep at the switch meaning that they were in the position to make the relevant changes but did not anticipate the company ever losing their position financially and operationally. In a quotation taken from the case by Applegate et al. (2008), Bill Etherington (1995) noted "I didn't think we'd ever lose money in the history of the company."
Sam Palmisano inherited this as one of the challenges to be addressed, he needed to change the culture. IBM's executives expected the company to be great as is, not considering that in order for the company to continue being successful, their competitive advantage needed to be sustainable.
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This can be done by constant re-evaluation of IBM's value-chain and the having a team dedicated to conducting environmental analysis and developing new innovative revenue generating goods and services. The Information Technology industry is constantly changing and with that the needs of the consumers are always changing. Palmisano needs to think ahead of the curve and predict not only what is needed now but what will be needed for tomorrow. As Steve Jobs stated, Innovations distinguishes between a leader and a follow, therefore, in order for IBM to once again be industry leaders, Innovation is