IBM
The Rise and Fall and Reinvention of a Global Icon
$99.56
- Paperback
752 pages
- Release Date
5 September 2023
Summary
A history of one of the most influential American companies of the last century. For decades, IBM shaped the way the world did business. IBM products were in every large organization, and IBM corporate culture established a management style that was imitated by companies around the globe. It was “Big Blue, ” an icon. And yet over the years, IBM has gone through both failure and success, surviving flatlining revenue and forced reinvention. The company almost went out of business in the early 1…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780262547826 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0262547821 |
| Author: | James W. Cortada |
| Publisher: | MIT Press Ltd |
| Imprint: | MIT Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 752 |
| Release Date: | 5 September 2023 |
| Weight: | 852g |
| Dimensions: | 229mm x 152mm x 48mm |
| Series: | History of Computing |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
”[An] excellent and I am tempted to label definitive book…. The research and background context is amazing and the book is readable throughout.”
—Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution
“A good read. It is engaging and replete with juicy tidbits. The detailed discussion about sales, arguably the firm’s most influential function and its main source of competitiveness for much of the twentieth century, is the book’s key contribution to the literature on IBM.”
—Nature
”[IBM] touches but lightly on the history of technology and is written primarily with a readership of business historians and corporate professionals in mind. Cortada ascribes IBM’s brand success more to its historical managerial outlook and sales culture than its engineering units…. Authoritative.”
—TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION
“A behemoth of a book for a behemoth of a company…. Chronicles the century-plus long span of a company that once dominated American business. As a narrative history of a sprawling business, it succeeds, with Cortada weaving in more scholarly historiographical debates and analysis as relevant throughout the book. The book is massive and exhaustively researched…. An ambitious and well-executed narrative business history, and many different readers will find something of value in its many pages.”
—Information and Culture
“Cortada provides a world-spanning example of an alternative corporate culture approach that demanded sustained effort from its employees—but treated them accordingly.”
—Journal of American History
“Unlike previous IBM stories by other authors, Cortada takes the time to engage in scholarly debate on relevant topics throughout each chapter. In doing so, it offers a robust and thought-provoking discussion of the 130-year history (from 1880 to 2012) of one of the most important and iconic companies of the 20th century.”
—Arena Pública
About The Author
James W. Cortada
James W. Cortada is Senior Research Fellow at the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota and the author of Information and the Modern Corporation (MIT Press) and other books. He worked at IBM for thirty-eight years in sales, consulting, managerial, and research positions.
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