IBM 1997 Annual Report Download - page 5

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3
letter
to
shareholders
Dearfellowinvestor,
LAST YEAR I TOLD YOU
THAT OUR STRATEGIC VISION WAS BEGINNING
TO TAKE HOLD, IN THE MARKETPLACE AND
INSIDE IBM. ISAIDWEPLANNEDTOSTAYTHE
COURSE — AND TO INTENSIFY OUR EXECUTION.
My message this year is unchanged. We will
continue to implement a strategic plan that our
customers, business partners, investors and employees
understand and endorse. We expect to continue
delivering consistent revenue growth — as we now
have for 14 straight quarters. We will continue to
improve the execution of our strategies to produce
marketplace wins, chiefly by strengthening and
leveraging IBM’s unique breadth of people, skills
and technology — assets many of our competitors
are trying furiously to replicate.
IBM’s market valuation — the ultimate measure
of our performance — grew by $23 billion in 1997.
Our stock price surpassed its all-time high and
continued to climb, rising 38 percent over the year.
Since our major restructuring in 1993, our market-
place worth has increased by more than $73 billion.
Last year we split the stock for the first time since 1979.
If you don’t read any further in this annual report,
know that IBM’s comeback is on track and doesn’t
require a major course correction.
But Ihope you will read on. A 40,000-foot view
doesn’t really tell the story — where growth will come
from and why, and how we plan to return IBM to
industry leadership.