The Decline and Fall of IBM
End of an American Icon?
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Narrated by:
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Robert Cringely
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By:
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Robert Cringely
About this listen
IBM is in serious trouble. Big Blue, as the company is known, tends to rely for its success on magical thinking but that magic ran out a long time ago. The company got in trouble back in the 1990s and had to hire for the first time an outside CEO, Lou Gerstner, to save the day. Gerstner pushed IBM into services with spectacular results but this hurt the company, too. As services have became commoditized IBM could only compete by offshoring the work and quality suffered. The other negative impact of Gerstner was his compensation which was for the first time in IBM history very high. Only the Watson family had become rich running IBM with later CEOs like John Opel and John Akers living comfortable lives with lots of perks, but they never got BIG RICH. That changed with Gerstner.
Sam Palmisano an IBM lifer followed Gerstner as CEO and followed, too, the Gerstner playbook. Palmisano retired three years ago with a retirement package worth $241 million, replaced by IBM's first woman CEO, Ginni Rometty, who certainly expects a comparable golden parachute. In order to achieve these numbers, though, IBM has essentially sacrificed both its customers and employees. In order to have ever growing earnings per share the company has cut labor to the bone, off-shored everything it can, dropped quality, deliberately underbid contracts to win them then not performed. IBM's acquisition policy is one of buying companies to get their sales then cutting costs to the bone and under-delivering. This and share buybacks have kept earnings growing until this house of cards recently began to fall. Ginni Rometty, who will end up taking the fall for Palmisano's flawed strategy, has stated a very specific earnings goal for 2015 that she will destroy the company to achieve if she must. This book how IBM fell from grace, where it is headed, and what specifically can be done to save the company before it is too late.
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A behind-the-scenes, revelatory history of McKinsey & Company, America's most influential and controversial business consulting firm, told by one of the nation's leading financial journalists. In The Firm, Duff McDonald uncovers how these high-powered, high-priced business savants have ushered in waves of structural, financial, and technological shifts. With unrivaled access to company documents and current and former employees, McDonald reveals the inner workings of what just might be the most influential private organization in America.
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Warning: Non consultants should avoid
- By R. Jaeger on 11-04-13
By: Duff McDonald
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Reality Check
- Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition
- By: Guy Kawasaki
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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In Silicon Valley slang, a "bozo explosion" is what causes a lean, mean, fighting machine of a company to slide into mediocrity. As Guy Kawasaki puts it, "If the two most popular words in your company are partner and strategic, and partner has become a verb, and strategic is used to describe decisions and activities that don't make sense"...then it's time for a reality check.
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The Reality of Reality Check
- By Ben on 08-18-09
By: Guy Kawasaki
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Attacker's Advantage
- Turning Uncertainty into Breakthrough Opportunities
- By: Ram Charan
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Attacker's Advantage, Charan reveals the upside of uncertainty for those leaders who are nimbly positioned to anticipate the catalysts of disruption and embrace change. He updates and adapts the principles of his previous best sellers to address the current turbulent business environment, cutting through the veil of complexity to concentrate on the new customer needs and expectations and providing the tools for corporate leaders to take their companies to a higher level.
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Fantastic book - volume lower than usual
- By James Gajewski on 06-14-15
By: Ram Charan
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Street Smarts
- An All-Purpose Tool Kit for Entrepreneurs
- By: Norm Brodsky, Bo Burlingham
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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People starting out in business tend to seek step-by-step formulas or rules, but in reality there are no magic bullets. Rather, says veteran company-builder Norm Brodsky, there's a mentality that helps street- smart entrepreneurs solve problems and pursue opportunities as they arise. Brodsky shares his hard-earned wisdom every month in Inc. magazine, in the hugely popular "Street Smarts" column he cowrites with Bo Burlingham. Now they've adapted their best advice into a comprehensive guide for anyone running a small business.
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This great audio was originally called The Knack!
- By morton on 12-16-11
By: Norm Brodsky, and others
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The Strategist
- Be the Leader Your Business Needs
- By: Cynthia Montgomery
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Based on an acclaimed professor's legendary strategy course at Harvard Business School, The Strategist offers a radically new perspective on a leader's most vital role. "Are you a strategist?" That's the first question Cynthia Montgomery asks the business owners and senior executives from all over the world who participate in her highly regarded executive education course. It's not a question they anticipate, but by the time the program ends, they cannot imagine leading their companies to success without being - and living the role of - a strategist.
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Slow going with an odd narrative tone
- By Benson Bumpkin on 08-06-12
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The Lords of Strategy
- The Secret Intellectual History of the New Corporate World
- By: Walter Kiechel III
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Imagine running a business without a strategy. It would be akin to driving blindfolded, to building a house without a blueprint. The concept of strategy changed all that, paving the way for the creation of the modern corporate world. The Lords of Strategy provides listeners with a deeper understanding of the world they compete in, and a sharper eye for what works — and what doesn’t — when forging strategy.
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Super Book of Narrow Interest
- By Roy on 08-23-10
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The Self-Made Billionaire Effect
- How Extreme Producers Create Massive Value
- By: John Sviokla, Mitch Cohen
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Imagine what Atari might have achieved if Steve Jobs had stayed there to develop the first massmarket personal computer. Or what Steve Case might have done for PepsiCo if he hadn't left for a gaming start-up that eventually became AOL. What if Salomon Brothers had kept Michael Bloomberg, or Bear Stearns had exploited the inventive ideas of Stephen Ross? Scores of top-tier entrepreneurs worked for established corporations before they struck out on their own and became self-made billionaires.
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Waste of time!
- By Anonymous User on 05-30-20
By: John Sviokla, and others
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Car Guys vs. Bean Counters
- The Battle for the Soul of American Business
- By: Bob Lutz
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2001, General Motors hired Bob Lutz out of retirement with a mandate to save the company by making great cars again. He launched a war against penny pinching, office politics, turf wars, and risk avoidance. After declaring bankruptcy during the recession of 2008, GM is back on track thanks to its embrace of Lutz's philosophy. When Lutz got into the auto business in the early sixties, CEOs knew that if you captured the public's imagination with great cars, the money would follow.
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Opinionated and one-sided
- By Michael Parks on 06-23-11
By: Bob Lutz
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Good to Great
- Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't
- By: Jim Collins
- Narrated by: Jim Collins
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Built To Last, the defining management study of the 90s, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning. But what about companies that are not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness?
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Good info, over-the-top narration
- By Anaxamaxan on 08-31-10
By: Jim Collins
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Scale
- Seven Proven Principles to Grow Your Business and Get Your Life Back
- By: Jeff Hoffman, David Finkel
- Narrated by: David Finkel
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Business owners want growth but fear it will take over their lives. Surprisingly, the only way to truly grow your company is to reduce its reliance on you - to scale. Jeff Hoffman and David Finkel offer a blueprint to rapidly grow your business while also gaining more freedom. Based on their own experiences starting, scaling, and effectively exiting from multiple successful companies, they provide seven clear principles that will help you determine the best strategy for growth in your company.
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All stuff no fluff
- By Jonathan Bonanno on 05-25-21
By: Jeff Hoffman, and others
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Inside Drucker's Brain
- By: Jeffrey A. Krames
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In late 2003, Peter Drucker invited Jeffrey Krames to his home in Claremont, California, for a rare interview. The 94-year-old Drucker who had amassed an unprecedented body of published work, comprised of many hundreds of thousands of pages, spent a full day sharing his insights from a lifetime of management consulting and writing. This resulting audiobook is a simple guide that distills the essential wisdom from Drucker's considerable body of work.
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Learn From the Master
- By morton on 10-24-08
What listeners say about The Decline and Fall of IBM
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Eran Gal
- 01-07-15
Great book. Sad story
In short, a sad real story about a technology giant that going after the short term stock price destroys the legendary company
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jacobhardin
- 10-28-14
An informative look at an American icon
What made the experience of listening to The Decline and Fall of IBM the most enjoyable?
The way in which it was written made receiving the information natural and interesting.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Decline and Fall of IBM?
The sections detailing the treatment of employees.
Any additional comments?
This audio books paints a detailed picture of the state of IBM.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Holly
- 10-23-14
Smart, interesting analysis
Any additional comments?
I've never really thought much about IBM, so this audiobook was all new territory to me. Cringely obviously knows what he's talking about and knows a lot of insiders.I think anyone interested in computers will enjoy this audiobook. The author did a great job with the narration, too.
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- Steve Senatori
- 10-22-15
My career is over and I do not even work for IBM
Loved it.
I recommended this to my CIO, my IT labor union, and others.
I feel most sorry my fellow architects who may have recommended IBM products and technologies in the past couple of years. I feel betrayed.
I would loved to talk to the author. I think a prolog should eventually be forthcoming... It is now October 2015 and reality is beginning come home to roost: See "IBM reports Q3 2015 earnings, cuts forecasts" by Julie Bort, Business Insider.
Regards,
-s
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- Erikopolous
- 11-09-24
Tight, compelling analysis of complex topic
Superb, it's not just about IBM but how graft is conducted by the people in charge of American (which is global) high tech companies. I finally understand how the stock buyback stuff is used to advantage executives and stock holders at the expense of the company, customer, and worker. Like listening to a really good mystery adventure except it's real and you get something you can use. Loved this.
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- hili r.
- 09-29-15
Disapointing
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
The book is uninformative. It doesn't say anything that the readers can't figure out by themselves.
Any additional comments?
I do believe that there is a market fro books on this topic (big businesses after 2008, especially IBM), but they do have to be more informative and less repetitive.
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