Chapter 4: Focus on Solutions

"IBM is a solutions company ...": Lou Gerstner

"So there was IBM ...:" Louis V. Gerstner, Who Says Elephants Can't Dance (New York: HarperCollins, 2002), p. 122.

"It's hard to describe how beaten down that company was": Andy Grove, quoted in Steve Lohr, "He Loves to Win. At IBM, He Did," New York Times, March 10, 2002, p. 11. b.

"There wasn't going to be an IBM; there was going to be six or eight IBM's—effectively no IBM ...": Lou Gerstner, Interview with author, March 21, 2002.

"Somebody who could sit in the middle of a lot of very-difficult-to-integrate technology ...": Lou Gerstner, Interview with author, March 21, 2002.

"The alternative [to breaking up the company] was to keep IBM together ...": Lou Gerstner, 1997 shareholders meeting, Dallas, Texas, April 27, 1997.

"Virtually all the management focus ...": Lou Gerstner, Interview with author, March 21, 2002.

"In the spring of 1993, a big part of what I had to do was get the company refocused on the marketplace ...": Lou Gerstner, Interview with author, March 21, 2002.

"One of the key measures that Gerstner took in helping to change the focus from 'inside-out' to 'outside-in'": The story of Welch addressing top executives at IBM was relayed by Harvey Thompson, a senior IBM executive who attended the meeting, who spoke to this author on September 29, 2002.

"Be patient. By that, I don't mean be complacent ..." Lou Gerstner, Interview with author, March 21, 2002.

"We've helped thousands of customers develop a network strategy ...": Lou Gerstner, 1998 IBM shareholders conference.

Information regarding IBM's sales and profits performance appeared in Robert Slater, Saving Big Blue (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1999).

"Services is the fastest-growing part of the information technology industry ...": Lou Gerstner, 1999 IBM shareholders conference.

"The customer would not accept a services company ...": Lou Gerstner, quoted by Steve Lohr, "He Loved to Win," The New York Times, March 10, 2002, p. 11.

"Set off an incredible bomb in the company ...": Lou Gerstner, quoted by Steve Lohr, "He Loved to Win," The New York Times, March 10, 2002, p. 11.

"Look at technology through the eyes of the customer ...": Lou Gerstner, quoted by Steve Lohr, "He Loved to Win," The New York Times, March 10, 2002, p. 11.

"Every day it becomes more clear that the Net ...": Lou Gerstner, IBM web site, December 15, 1999.

Information regarding how the Internet transformed IBM appeared in "IBM:From Big Blue Dinosaur to E-Business Animal," D. Kirkpatrick, Fortune, April 26, 1999, p. 116.

"The Internet is ultimately about innovation and integration ...": Lou Gerstner, quoted in I. Sager's "Internet Business Machines," Business Week, December 13, 1999, p. e30.

Financial data regarding IBM's Internet business appeared in I. Sager's "Internet Business Machines," Business Week, December 13, 1999, p. e26. BW quotes IT Services Advisory, LLC, Hillside, N.J.

Information regarding Gerstner's decision to keep IBM's research lab in place and focus on solving customers' problems appeared in Robert Slater, Saving Big Blue (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1999).

"'If we really believe this, we're going to reprioritize all the budgets in the company. In a period of four weeks ...": Lou Gerstner, quoted in "Internet Business Machines," Business Week, December 13, 1999, p. e30.

"The real leadership in the industry ...": Lou Gerstner, quoted in "Internet Business Machines," Business Week, December 13, 1999, p. e30.