Executive summary
IBM is a multinational organization. It manufactures and sells computer software, hardware, mainframe computers, as well as nanotechnology. The company is among the leading computer and electronic organizations based in New York City, United states. It owns and operates numerous franchise companies and multinational businesses across the globe with major branches in the United Sates, India, and Australia.
The ultimate goal of IBM is to dominate in the global market with novel computer and consultation products. Its toughest competitors include Microsoft, Dell, Google, Hewlett- Packard Company, and many more. The presence of these key players in the PC industry makes the competition intense for IBM.
This has forced the company to work out its competitive advantages so as to remain relevant and competent in the market. This is a critical provision in the realms of technology and business expansion. Its objective is to substantially address the needs of its customers. The modern marketing strategies demand organizations to create considerable business provisions (Williams, 72).
In fact, IBM is very good at meeting the needs of its clients despite the challenges. This is how the company has attained its competitive advantages in the global arenas. However, as it continues to grow, IBM has become highly recognized with its brands.
This has allowed the company to remain top in the industry. In the context of management, auditing is a critical provision in the business context. Lack of internal auditors has led to misappropriation of funds in several companies and organizations.
That is why several companies and organizations have adopted it to help in bringing accountability. Leadership management pattern at IBM has really contributed to its success.
An overview of the company
Modern business practices especially in the computer technology have gone global. Technological breakthrough is certainly the major contributor to the expansive and ever growing computer industry (Williams 76). A number of companies are finding computer industry a lucrative venture thus creating a greater opportunity for computer technicians who range from programmers to engineers.
Computer manufacturing is a diverse industry that incorporates a wide range of specializations. This includes but not limited to software development, hardware development, and developing network infrastructure.
According to Williams (77), the revolution in the Information Technology (IT) has forced majority of organization across the globe to equip their workforce with latest IT devices. This has translated to a major boost in the computer industry.
In the previous decade, IBM enhanced its investment quests in the computer industry. Evidently, different players continue to flood the industry with novel products and ideologies in order to take advantage of the emerging markets and enhance their market divides. It is noteworthy that American companies for a long time have been controlling the global computer industry (Williams, 76).
However, other firms from emerging markets especially from Asia are coming out strongly with various IT products to share the available opportunities. A large number of companies that include but not limited to Dell, Hewlett Packard, Acer, Verizon Communications, Microsoft, Apple Inc, Intel, Compaq, IBM, Asus, Gateway, and Xerox currently dominates the computer industry.
IBM Company has been thriving in the global market for decades. The company offers a wide range of phones, computer accessories, and personal computers (PC) to very many clients across the globe. Its business has today gone global thereby increasing its profit gains. This is a critical observation in the business contexts.
It is vital to determine whether the planned business strategies will help the organization to attain its prospective objectives. IBM is among the top producers of computers in the world today. It is renowned for its continued production of desktops, notebooks, laptops, and net book computers as indicated earlier. Additionally, it has been an active competitor in today’s international computer businesses.
It has been supplying technological equipments ranging from electronics, computers, PDAs, servers, displays, storage devices, Smartphone’s and other peripheral products (Williams, 76). These are produced with the intention of providing man with the best computer devices to make life much better.
It is also acknowledgeable that IBM Company has been providing e-business solutions and services for governments, businesses, learning institutions and even to home users. IBM Group is currently headquartered in New York, United States.
Previously, IBM Company has managed to streamline most of its operations. This saw the company spinning off a number of its processing and manufacturing operations.
This brought a whole new change in the company as a way of boosting streaming of operations to increase productivity of high quality products capable of meeting the major needs of the consumer (Williams, 76). Leadership management pattern at IBM has really contributed to its success in the computer industry.
IBM Company has since then been in a position of implementing new channels for business modeling. In this trend, the company has shifted from being a leading producer or manufacturer of purely branded company to a complex organization providing consumers with a vast range of technological products.
They have also been the proliferation of different manufacturing firms while the IBM Company has been playing the role of a distributor. This means that there are firms that produce IBM products after which they are distributed to the consumers through IBM Company (Williams, 76).
This means that company only deals with the marketing processes of IBM products around the world. Below is IBM price, earnings and dividend graph and the global market data,
Price, Earning, and Dividends graph of IBM Corporation
The IBM Corporation Company has enlarged its marketing network over the recent years. The advancement in technology has also led to good market forces for this industry although it still faces some stiff competitions (Williams, 72).
This corporation or industry also tries to come up with some other marketing techniques aimed at surpassing the performance of its competitors. Very many things have to be put into consideration for the successful achievement of these aims and this therefore means that IBM Corporation must have a good strategy or plan that will successfully execute some of its weaknesses and threats (Williams, 76).
Threat is one of the key factors that can lead to industrial poor performance. Just like any other corporation or company, IBM Corporation or industry has to be very wise in decision-making and this only depends on the kind of management system in place. People experiences difficulties in making choices or selection.
Determination of a quality product is not an easy task and this has made IBM Corporation to find more ways of convincing people of the quality of their products.
Latest global market data of IBM Corporation
Governance
Porter’s theory of competitive advantage applies to IBM and its brands. The power of its brands is very important component in the differentiation of the prominent market trends (Williams 72). People simply associate IBM brands with standard quality, reliability, and many other intrinsic values. This is due to the fact that brands simply emphasize attributes and meanings (Williams 76).
In a highly capitalist world, brands have important value that could be maximized for profit making (Williams, 76). Branding is a specific marketing strategy and as a way to enhance profitability, productivity and efficiency (Williams, 72). Moor added that branding seeks to develop political message, corporate image, people, and behaviors.
It is in these reasons IBM wanted to invest more in reconstructing, refining and enhancing its brands prior to becoming a cut above the other in its industry. As widely observed, the media have always been the integral parts of IBM’s success in achieving a powerful brand in the world.
As a result, IBM has become an iconic brand because it came to a point of becoming a cultural icon with corresponding identity value (Williams 76). There are many strategies in doing this and they are integral parts of cultural branding principles.
In this paper, the proponent tries to incorporate in the analysis how IBM Corporation was able to successfully achieve or create the power of its brands using the media as integral parts of communication, a specific strategy in cultural branding principles (Williams 76). The discussion in particular includes media, brand development, and the concept of gratification of needs based on psychological perspective.
Being in the computer science field, the organization has had the opportunity to specialize and interact with different computer systems at different levels, including network administration and security. It is worth to enroll in different classes including introduction to operating system, advanced programming, advanced wireless networking and computer systems management.
This is a critical provision I the context of management and operation enhancement. These classes will function as a basis for educational plan in order to achieve the set long-term personal goals. Attending the recent joint Google and IBM technology workshop in New York was beneficial.
Given academic performances, IBM Chief Executive, Virginia Rometty assured me of an internship in their organisation coming next summer. Business management of the IBM Company’s electronic products is what I want to do.
Reasons being: For IBM Company, the global arena has been something of greater interest because it has been engaged in international business. For this company it has been necessary to come up with ways of exploring markets whereby the economic factors appear to favor business operations. The economic position should be able to favor business growth and offer new incentives towards business success (Williams, 76).
Given a chance to manage a Global business like IBM Corporation, It is vital to make sure that there is a proper application of human resource as one of the relevant attributes, which can work miracles for a given organization (Williams, 76).
Why is this so? When there is a proper adoption of human resource management in an organization like IBM Corporation, it becomes very possible to have goals, which make all the employees in the organization working hard to the realization of better objectives and missions, which have been set in place. This enhances a possibility of having better results and provision of all positive services to the clients and stakeholders.
Human resource management, as an important contributory element in management, makes it possible to have all issues within the organization so that all players can be comfortable with the business involvements.
With an educational diploma in management from a reputable management institution, one of the greatest ideas passed to learners is in the manner in which decision-making is done within the organization. Thus it will be easy to engage in positive ways of making decisions in the business (Williams, 72).
During good decision-making, the president would be able to incorporate better strategies through which all individuals and employees in the business shall be encouraged to engage in the process. Decision-making is today the best rule, which has been seeing the greatest number of organizations achieving better performance and realization of their goals (Williams 76).
Whenever managing a business in a company, several elements need to be studied. From different publications, there has been presentation of the major factors affecting business performance both internationally and locally (Williams 78). IBM Corporation has been aiming higher profits within the next five years.
It will be the president’s chance to show that to achieve this there should appropriate utilization of resources and carry extensive studies to outline the major approaches that can improve the overall performance of the company.
The world affairs have constantly been changing. This been the fact, it calls for a company like IBM to use new ideas in analyzing the global business environment and know how to explore the markets. This will make it possible for it to realize its overall gains.
Ethics and Social Responsibility
In IBM, ethical business provisions are critical values, principles or codes of conduct that the company embraces to ensure that its strategic decisions are virtuous in nature. Ethics play a critical role in ensuring a company’s success. Currently, the organization’s culture sets standards that establish the difference between the good and the bad decisions and behaviors.
The manager of the company should play a leading role in the establishment of ethics within the company (Szymanski 23). The employees would only follow what the manager does. The company’s leaders are fully responsible for the setting of standards on what should be acceptable about the behavior of regarding the employees and what is not accepted.
The managers should create a working environment whereby the workers find it easy to work in an ethical way. Normally, clients have associated IBM brands with standard quality, reliability, and many other intrinsic values. This is due to the fact that brands simply emphasize attributes and meanings to the clients (Williams 76).
For a company dealing with electronics and computers such as IBM, there is a very big need to focus on both the micro and macro factors that can affect the global penetration of their products. With the fact that the computer industry has been expanding tremendously, it is necessary to study the changing economic trends in order to make informed decisions towards penetrating new global markets.
The analysis of the global environment is something that offers new insights about the market situation and also helps realize better opportunities. This will also help determine the major strengths and opportunities for the company (Williams, 72). As well, through such analyzes a company can understand the faced threats and weaknesses therefore seek new ways of improving their business.
Organization
In this context, organizational structure in IBM is critically established to ensure that the organization attains its managerial objectives. IBM is currently led by Ginni Rometty as the Chairman, President, and CEO of the company. The corporation requires a leader with absolute knowledge of the happenings in the company.
The leader should fully be involved in the business. He should always make sure that a manager is assigned to each department whereby each of them will be in charge of his or her department and must meet with the CEO every week to update him on the happenings and any changes happening in the company (Szymanski 45).
In other words, the company will adopt a functional structure of organization; which is one that isolates some duties and further splits them into simplified ones for specialization. The structure of functional organization divided the company’s activities into functional departments such as production, quality, information technology and accounting.
Events within this kind of structure are divided into functional departments such as information technology, marketing, accounting and research development and customer service. Soon, the company would be very organized and would smoothly develop without any problems.
Production Department
This department mainly specializes in the production provisions. It caters for all costs involved in the IBM’s operations. The department should also be rich in the required raw materials and workforce. Some of the raw materials needed by the IBM Corporation may include various chemicals such as mercury. This department needs skilled labour as it is also divided into subsections in relation to personnel specialization.
Quality department
Quality department ensures standard goods are produced in the production department as this enables the IBM products to have good market forces. This department also provides stickers and any other branding that may be necessary before goods are released to the market.
Accounting department
Accounting department at IBM takes care of all the financials controls activities. Auditing is also found within this department to ensure that company funds are used appropriately, and without any embezzlement. It is vital to consider the aspects of auditing in the organizational contexts.
Sales and marketing department
It is the duty of this department at IBM to ensure that goods are marketed. It is upon the Planning.
Project management is the most appropriate developmental technique in the workplace. It can be enhanced through proper planning designed during the project proposal. Considerable efforts are required in the planning of the implementation, monitoring, and project evaluation.
This technique is more than just the implementation of the activities identified in the log frame; it includes the management of all the components that constitute a project; starting from the resources, risks together with changes to ensure that the project meets its goals within the anticipated quality, budget and timeframe, and concurrently meeting the shareholder’s expectations (Williams, 76).
Scenario planning technique is not efficient or suitable in the workplace due to the increasing complexity of the society, which makes extrapolated trend-forecasts unreliable.
Unless the business setting is simple and the planning horizon is not far, ‘single point’ forecasts don’t reasonably represent the future. Instead of showing a range of possible results, they mainly focus on the identification of the most probable future. Nonetheless, a single point is based on a set of uncertain assumptions (Williams, 72).
The implementation of the scenario planning technique can be done in several types of organizations, at various levels within those organizations, and for many different reasons or purposes.
Nonetheless, any organization that requires a process or procedure for planning for the future uncertainties could significantly benefit from the use of this king of technique. Despite their story-like quality, scenarios follow recognizable and systematic steps. The process is highly intense, imaginative and interactive (Williams, 76).
Leading
Leadership at IBM Corporation is considered to be excellent because of the subdivision of the departments. The departmental heads carry out their jobs to perfection as this helps in boosting the company’s stability in the market.
Apart from the departmental heads, the president of the company also have a duty of monitoring all business activities taking place within the company hence taking control over the company’s departmental heads. Management at IBM is such a long chain that starts starts from senor employees to the board of directors.
Senior employees monitor the duties of their juniors. This is how it continues until it reaches the stakeholders or board of governors. Although the IBM president has power to control all the company activities, there are certain limits that may need stakeholders or the board of governors.
When a departmental head has any opinion, he or she has to pass it to the company president who later channels it to the board of directors. This clearly shows that the president’s role at IBM is to monitor and give reports to the board of governors for decision-making. It is vital to understand the business prospects of IBM so as to establish its market strategies.
Leadership management pattern at IBM has really contributed to its success in the computer industry. There is good coordination between leaders hence making it very easy to arrive at a correct decision based on the subject matter. The president cannot run the company alone being that IBM deals in many computer components or activities.
Controlling
Management control
The Management Control Review’s purpose at the IBM Company is to examine the whole management system and controls to help the units work more effectively and efficiently. This will also offer a rational level of assurance or assertion that the products and process for which one is responsible are protected sufficiently.
IBM has ratified credible measures to discourage managerial irregularities and erroneous acts. One of the measures considerable in this context is the establishment of the department of internal audit. This is a critical provision in the business context.
The GAO General Management Control Standards
It is vital to establish and embrace credible managerial control standards. Management evaluation should be executed regularly to establish the levels at which the General Accounting Office management and control standards are incorporated within the organization’s virtues.
Concurrently, it should also embrace plans, strategies, and protocols that manage the undertakings and programs of the company. In its evaluation, the following have been ratified:
- Adherence to the law
IBM’s operations have embraced global regulations and law. The allocation of resources is effectively and efficiently done to serve the rightly authorized purposes.
- Considerable safeguards and assurance
The administration offers considerable assurances to safeguard IBM against misappropriation. This is a considerable provision in the context of management. It is important to understand how IBM safeguards its business provision and administration quests.
- Proficiency, Manner, and Integrity
Integrity should be established, ratified, and embraced amidst workers and managers. It is important to understand the values of integrity within the workplace.
- Audit Findings’ Resolution
Auditing is a critical provision in the business context. Lack of internal auditors has led to misappropriation of funds in several companies and organizations. That is why several companies and organizations have adopted it to help in bringing accountability, so that the money spent can be accounted for.
Internal auditors play a very critical role in the corporate governance of the company, its financial reporting processes, analysis of risk management and the internal control structure.
The internal audit department has helped in maintaining records of where the money goes, and ensures that the money is put into good use, and not for the benefit of individuals. The department has also helped the organization in knowing if it is making or loosing more money.
Internal audit has helped the company in reviewing the processes’ efficiency as well as the related international standards, shows commitment by the top management, offers scope of improvement, offers information for the management review meetings and also helping in the improvement of the client confidence and satisfaction.
Operations Control
- Assign responsibility for the maintenance and reviewing of operational controls
The management assigns the individuals responsible for the maintenance of the controls and for their reviews to ensure that procedures are strictly followed and correction of deviations done.
In general, employees who are responsible for the SEA (significant environmental aspects) are responsible for the implementation of the related operational controls. Nevertheless, it is the responsibility of the immediate line manager to review the controls regularly. The company has listed the individuals responsible for every set of procedures.
- Development of training that is operational control-related
The management of the company has ensured success in the meeting of the environmental objectives for every SEA offering sufficient training to everyone responsible for reviewing or maintenance of controls.
- Take corrective measure in case objective are not accomplished
The management ensures that actions are taken to correct the failures in the operational controls within the quickest take possible to accomplish the environmental objectives.
Contemporary Control
Managerial control refers to the process by which varying business tactics are established and embraced to evaluate whether the ratified strategies are beneficial to the company’s internal environment. The external environment is also monitored.
More so, the control enables managers to examine the programs of the company from a long term viewpoint. Implementing strategic control is essential as it would monitor two things; that the implementation of the strategy is done in accordance with the plan, and whether the outcomes of the strategy are the intended ones.
This is a considerable provision in the context of management and other business provisions. It is vital to determine whether the planned business strategies will help the organization to attain its prospective objectives.
Behavioral Control
To achieve its objectives, IBM should adopt behavioral control. This is a strategy that would help in the monitoring of employees’ behaviors. It would also examine workers accordingly on the basis of their abilities and competence. The manager would examine the efforts as well as the inputs of the workers and see if they are up to the expectations. Employees should be rewarded in relation to their efforts in the company.
Conclusion
IBM is a globalized corporation. It has considerable marketing strategies to ensure that it remains relevant and competent in the market. Their products control the market trends in the realms of technology and novelty. With the modern systems of education, management tactics, and useful theories, IBM has managed to thrive in the market with novel operational ideologies and production systems.
Ideal business strategies can be applied accordingly in any given organization for a better management approach. A number of companies are finding computer industry a lucrative venture thus creating a greater opportunity for computer technicians who range from programmers to engineers. Modern business practices in the computer technology have gone global.
Technological burst through is certainly the major contributor to the expansive and ever growing computer industry. Concurrently, aauditing is a critical provision in the business context. Lack of internal auditors has led to misappropriation of funds in several companies and organizations.
Leadership management pattern at IBM has really contributed to the organization’s success in the computer industry. It is vital to understand that the quality assurance department ensures that standard goods are produced and released to the market.
This has enabled IBM products to have a considerable market penetration. Precisely, it is crucial to determine whether the planned business strategies will help the organization to attain its prospective business objectives.
Works Cited
Szymanski, Aleksander. IBM and the business ethics. London: GRIN Verlag, 2011. Print.
Williams, Chuck. Management. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.