From Library Journal
Throughout most of this century, IBM was a golden bulwark of the American economy. Hugely profitable and famously well managed, Big Blue was more than just a company; it was an international institution. But in the late 1980s, the legend unraveled. IBM fumbled an early lead in the personal computer business, with devastating, possibly irreparable consequences. Carroll, who covered IBM for seven years with the Wall Street Journal , breathes drama into this high-tech tale by focusing not on technological minutiae but on the human players, from fabled chairman Tom Watson Jr. to Microsoft wunderkind Bill Gates (who, more than anyone else, authored IBM's undoing). Although somewhat loosely structured, this work is a captivatingly well-reported piece. This is the first major book on an important chapter in American corporate history. Highly recommended.
- A.G. Wright, Harvard Coll. Lib. , Cambridge, Mass.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- A.G. Wright, Harvard Coll. Lib. , Cambridge, Mass.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
A savvy newsman's tellingly detailed report on the ruinous decline of IBM. Drawing on a wealth of inside sources, Wall Street Journal correspondent Carroll offers an unsparing account of a commercial juggernaut whose button-down culture, rigid bureaucracy, and complacent executives stifled development projects that could have ensured its dominance of the global computer industry well into the 21st century. In remarkably short order, in-house deficiencies and inroads made by nimbler rivals (Apple, Compaq, Intel, etc.) have reduced an erstwhile pacesetter to the status of a crippled colossus fighting for its very life in an increasingly unforgiving marketplace. As the author makes clear, moreover, Big Blue's downfall has caused widespread pain and harm. In addition to the economic costs borne by dismissed employees, host communities, suppliers, and investors, the US could lose a significant measure of its competitive edge in advanced technologies owing to appreciably lower research budgets at IBM. The principal virtue of Carroll's harsh reckoning is his chapter-and-verse fixing of blame for blunders that have combined to humble a once-mighty enterprise. Among other matters, he recounts how Big Blue (whose hierarchs stubbornly tried to protect the company's flagship franchise in lucrative but obsolescent mainframes) fumbled chances to open insurmountable leads in personal computers, PC software, laser printers, microprocessor chips, and allied products for which demand has proved brisk. Whether IBM's new stewards can plot a course that will let the debt-burdened leviathan regain anything remotely resembling its former eminence, much less profitability, remains a very open question for the author. Among other problems, he notes that layoffs and voluntary departures (spurred by attractive severance packages) have not only diminished but also demoralized the available pool of technical, sales, and management talent. Perceptive perspectives on computer errors of convulsive magnitude. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
"Richly detailed...fascinating reading."
Chicago Tribune
"Big Blues has many of the same qualities as other memorable journalistic feats of recent years, The Right Stuff, for instance, or All the President's Men. That is, it has tension, simplicity, and significance."
New York Newsday
"Recommended to executives of all multinationals, not just American ones, as a cautionary tale about corporate hubris."
The Economist
"Riveting."
Fortune
"A savvy newsman's tellingly detailed report on the ruinous decline of IBM."
Kirkus Reviews
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Chicago Tribune
"Big Blues has many of the same qualities as other memorable journalistic feats of recent years, The Right Stuff, for instance, or All the President's Men. That is, it has tension, simplicity, and significance."
New York Newsday
"Recommended to executives of all multinationals, not just American ones, as a cautionary tale about corporate hubris."
The Economist
"Riveting."
Fortune
"A savvy newsman's tellingly detailed report on the ruinous decline of IBM."
Kirkus Reviews
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Book Description
Chronicles the decline of IBM, explaining how corporate pride, inflexibility, bad decisions, and an inability to understand a changing marketplace has led to IBM's fall. 100,000 first printing. $100,000 ad/promo. Tour.
From the Back Cover
"Richly detailed...fascinating reading."
Chicago Tribune
"Big Blues has many of the same qualities as other memorable journalistic feats of recent years, The Right Stuff, for instance, or All the President's Men. That is, it has tension, simplicity, and significance."
New York Newsday
"Recommended to executives of all multinationals, not just American ones, as a cautionary tale about corporate hubris."
The Economist
"Riveting."
Fortune
"A savvy newsman's tellingly detailed report on the ruinous decline of IBM."
Kirkus Reviews --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Paul Carroll covered IBM for the Wall Street Journal for more than seven years. He now runs the Journal bureau in Mexico City.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
