IBM 2001 Annual Report Download - page 13

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no. 1
We decided not to die
KEEPING IBM TOGETHER
Did the world need a company like IBM anymore? In the
early 1990s, our way of computing and our way of working
with customers had fallen out of vogue, and we were on a fast
track to being dismantled, from within.
Then, in the spring of 1993, new leadership brought a new
vision
—
and a surprising decision. IBM would stay together.
We believed niche players weren’t the future. In fact, breaking
up the company would have been the end of everything IBM
stood for.
We made a big bet that customers needed a partner who
could both create technologies and integrate them
—
with each
other, and with the customer’s business processes.
At the time, it was a gutsy call. They always are when you’re
alone. But we decided that we should be true to ourselves.
It all started with that.