IBM Redux: Lou Gerstner and the Business Turnaround of the Decade

Amazon.com

Lou Gerstner, the man who flipped IBM's fortunes, has what a former colleague calls "a vertical vision of reality." That is, if things aren't moving upward, he's very unhappy. When he took over at IBM in 1993, they were moving downward at a frightening speed, and what he did to turn the company around will probably be studied in business schools in future generations. Until then, we have IBM Redux, by Doug Carr, a very entertaining and instructive look at Gerstner and the company he revived.

Carr, a former IBM speechwriter, possesses an insider's knowledge about the Gerstner years at IBM: the despair of watching the company sink into the tar pits of ever-deeper red ink; the ruthlessness of the early firings and other cost controls (one woman was downsized--"excessed" is the actual IBM euphemism--when she was eight and a half months pregnant and coming off a stellar performance review; another was given his termination papers while in a coma); the business decisions that led to the turnaround; and finally the elation of seeing the company reinvented as a nimble information-services provider.

This is far from a hagiography of Gerstner, however. Because Carr didn't have access to him, he relies on anecdotes from those who know Gerstner and have worked with him, and the result is a fascinating portrait of the CEO as a young man (one former high school football teammate recalls an errant pass from quarterback Gerstner that led to the teammate's career-ending knee injury); as a man in a hurry (the chapters on Gerstner's years at American Express and RJR Nabisco foreshadow his accomplishments at IBM); and finally as a seasoned businessman who succeeded in overhauling a company that few thought would survive intact. --Lou Schuler

Book Description

An inside look at one of the greatest business stories of our day: Lou Gerstner's dramatic transformation of IBM from a dying company into a nimble giant

When Lou Gerstner took the helm at IBM in 1993, the company was headed toward bankruptcy. Six years later Big Blue was back and better than ever: its stock at an all-time high; its coffers filled with cash; and its market capitalization a healthy $169 billion. How did Gerstner do it?

With unprecedented access to current and former IBM employees, and drawing upon more than 150 interviews and hundreds of pages of documents, journalist Doug Garr offers the first in-depth took at the IBM miracle and the man who made it happen. From the complete overhaul of the company's image and culture to the takeover of Lotus and the development of network technology, Garr vividly illustrates Gerstner's operating methods, management philosophy, and vision. Fastpaced and fascinating, IB14 Redux provides rare insight into the world of information services and offers prescient advice on what IBM and its competitors need to do to keep on thriving in the twenty-first century.

Customer Reviews:

Patches of detail, but huge gaps in the big picture .......2007-05-26

At IBM, Lou Gerstner was a famously private individual. Now at the helm of Carlyle, the private equity firm, he can maintain his privacy in both home and business affairs. This book describes some of the details of his early, pre-McKinsey life that weren't previously in the public domain.

I believe this book gives a fairly accurate picture of Gerstner's character, but I don't believe it explains how he turned around IBM at all well. In this book, Jerome York, his CFO, gets almost as much credit for driving the drastic cuts and changes in management behaviour that were necessary to get Big Blue out of the red.

Besides mentioning the obvious tactic of cutting costs, Garr says very little about the financial trickery Gerstner used to manage IBM's recovery. In their first year, Gerstner and York ensured that as far as possible, all the write-offs were done. This meant that fiscal 1993 was an awful year for IBM's results, but it ensured that every subsequent year would look good by comparison. Garr makes no mention of this. In subsequent quarters, managers were given instructions to hide or reveal costs and revenues, in order to build a smooth performance and achieve a track record of meeting Wall Street expectations. Again Garr makes no mention of this.

Crucially, Garr makes on mention of Gerstner's insistence that, if his executives wanted to be on the best stock options plan, they had to buy two years' salary's worth of IBM shares. (Imagine being on £100K a year, and being told you had to buy £200k's worth of IBM stock.) My belief is that most executives had to borrow money to qualify. Suddenly they are paying hefty interest charges on the gamble that the IBM share price would grow dramatically. In my view, it was this scheme that drove the biggest wedge between executives and rank-and-file employees. The more that executives could screw down employee wages and other costs, the higher the likely IBM share price. Both Tom Watson and his son would have strongly disapproved of a scheme which caused such a divergence in interests. The company is still suffering from the effects of Gerstner's invention, but no doubt it improved the IBM share price in its first few years of operation.

If like me, you collect all books on IBM, then you'll already have this, and as I said, it contains some unique material. But it is very patchy -- very little mention of the Internet (but too much on the Network Computer), and almost nothing about services or Linux. The tense of the chapters varies -- from past historic to present and back again -- which seems to be less of a deliberate device and more an indication that Garr lifted articles he had already written for various magazines.

Gerstner glosses over the story.......2003-02-20

I was disappointed in the book because I felt that Gerstner was more concerned about the political correctness of his book and complimenting himself, rather than telling the whole story. Gerstner seems more than willing to describe all of the tough, and in his mind, the correct decisions he had to make during his tenure at IBM. He fails to shed much light on the fact that IBM was unable to compete in the major tecnology areas (other than the maniframe) during his tenure. Disk Drives, sold to Hitachi, PC Desktops - declared Dell the winner, Microsoft/Intel - never competed, Networking - Cisco is the winner, application software - lost to SAP, Peoplesoft, CA, etc., UNIX Servers - 3rd place finish behind SUN and HP. He only focuses on one area - services/outsourcing - where IBM was successful during his tenure. I believe that IBM could be an even stronger company today had Gerstner been able to win on more fronts. I would love to read a book about the real IBM and what really went on behind the scenes.

Biscuits and Computers.......2001-09-27

My interest in this book was generated by "Father, Son & Co: My Life at IBM and Beyond " - Thomas Watson Jr.

Despite the rapid growth and technological strengths, IBM loses customer focus and arrogance becomes a common trait among its employees. A customer in a Far Eastern country needs to wait for over 2 months to receive a quotation for an AS/400. Not hard to guess what follows.

One of America's most admired companies, IBM starts slipping, losing over $ 16 billion in just 4 consecutive years by 1993. There was no problem about revenues. IBM was making $ 64 billion attracting most of the money spent on Information Technology. But it was spending $ 69 billion to earn it. At $ 26 billion in debt, a figure that is more than what most developing countries owed the rest of the world, it needed a miracle. It needed Lou.

A man, who was inducted from an industry that had no relevance to computing, rescues big Blue from near bankruptcy. The only thing in common between biscuits and computers is that they almost have the same shelf life. The success of both businesses requires the understanding of customer needs, speed of product introduction, inventory management and cost control. Lou Gerstner from RJR Nabisco steps in to clean up the mess at IBM- and he does this with passion and not with compassion.

Harvard educated, with extensive experience at McKinsey, American Express and RJR Nabisco, Lou brings in his own team, who again have no exposure to the computer industry. The "Cookie man hires chicken man" - Lou hires Bruce Herreld from Boston Chicken to fill in the position of Chief strategist for example. Key to the surgical operation in cost control is Jerome York from the automobile industry. And this list grows on similar lines.

Lou has his own share of blues. He would not like to remember the fiasco at Atlanta with IBM's promise of "bullet proof reliability". " If self -parody were an Olympic sport, IBM would have medaled" said Fortune Magazine. Lou's wrath against this leading business magazine is another story by itself.

There is a clear shift in the strategic direction at IBM in the recent past. Its departure from proprietary system architecture to embrace open technologies. From competition to "co-opetition". PC business is its "Vietnam". IBM realizes this and signs up with Dell to supply components in this segment. It embraces Linux and Java and quickly positions itself as e-business solution provider. Lou is again driving from basics. Biscuits and computers have so much in common- ask the customer, under-promise and over-deliver.

IBM and Lou Gerstner - Great book, interesting, fun!.......2001-06-09

This book provides a current and interesting story about Lou and IBM. I enjoyed this book very much, and highly recommend it!

Good Story, Slightly Confused Approach.......2000-12-10

There's a lot of fascinating stuff here, but you almost have to read between the lines to get there. I agree with the other reviewer who says that it's more like a Gerstner biography than properly a look at the turnaround itself-- more interesting to me would have been less personality and more a look at how a pure business methodology approach (a la McKinsey) replaced the former technical focus and how that impacted the company. While it was amusing to get a feel of the personalities, it was often distracting when trying to read for a real case study.

Big Blue: Turnabout is Good Play.(Brief Article)(Review) (book reviews) : An article from: Chief Executive (U.S.)

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Big Blue: Turnabout is Good Play.(Brief Article)(Review) (book reviews) : An article from: Chief Executive (U.S.)

Manufacturer: Chief Executive Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Chief Executive (U.S.), published by Chief Executive Publishing on December 1, 1999. The length of the article is 935 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Big Blue: Turnabout is Good Play.(Brief Article)(Review) (book reviews)
Publication: Chief Executive (U.S.) (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 1999
Publisher: Chief Executive Publishing
Page: 74

Article Type: Brief Article, Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

This book explores how the U.S. antitrust laws, especially the Sherman Antitrust Act, have affected the ways in which U.S. corporations can form alliances to compete in world markets. The editors start from the premise that current antitrust laws unwisely restrain innovation by inhibiting desirable pro-competitive communication and cooperation between firms. This results in an impediment to the performance of U.S. firms competing in industries experiencing rapid technological change. Not all of the contributors agree with the editors about the degree to which the antitrust laws do indeed inhibit U.S. industry. Thus, the book represents a variety of views on a topic of increasing importance. Contributors include Phillip Areeda, William J. Baumol, Ann I. Jones, Robert P. Merges, Richard R. Nelson, Janusz A. Ordover, Thomas M. Jorde, Richard Schmalensee, Lawrence A. Sullivan, David M. Teece, Oliver E. Williamson, and Judge Frank H. Easterbrook.

Antitrust, Innovation, and Competitiveness. (book reviews): An article from: Southern Economic Journal

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Antitrust, Innovation, and Competitiveness. (book reviews): An article from: Southern Economic Journal
Thomas A. Hemphill
Manufacturer: Southern Economic Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Southern Economic Journal, published by Southern Economic Association on October 1, 1993. The length of the article is 1061 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Antitrust, Innovation, and Competitiveness. (book reviews)
Author: Thomas A. Hemphill
Publication: Southern Economic Journal (Refereed)
Date: October 1, 1993
Publisher: Southern Economic Association
Volume: v60 Issue: n2 Page: p516(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Entomopathogenic bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis and B. sphaericus) are increasingly used as biopesticides to control larval insect populations which are either agricultural or forestry pests and to reduce those which as adults are vectors of severe human diseases. This new book, the first since 1993 to address all aspects of entomopathogenic bacteria, provides undergraduate and graduate students as well as research scientists with a complete, modern view of this important group of bacteria. The authors, chosen for their sustained contributions to the field, cover both fundamental and applied research in this area. The main topics include bacterial ecology and taxonomy, toxin diversity, activity and mode of action, regulation and environment of the genes, safety and ecotoxicology, production and field application of the bacteria, and outbreaks of resistant populations. The book concludes with the most recent data obtained on transgenic biotechnology and addresses environmental impact issues.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent!.......2005-07-13

This book covers all the desired aspects of entomopathogenic bacteria. Each chapter is quite easy to follow. Best of the best!

Book Description

The authors share their combined 40 years of experience in conducting classical conditioning experiments beginning from their association in one of the premier experimental and theoretical laboratories, Richard F. Thompson. Unlike many books on classical conditioning, which present the current state of knowledge, this book explores hands-on issues of how to implement classical conditioning experiments, describing many of the techniques and equipment used to discover the locus for a simple memory in the brain. Circuit diagrams for instrumentation and software for control and analysis are detailed, and many of these apply to other behavioral paradigms. Included in the CD are source codes in Forth and C++ implementations for classical conditioning, drawings and images of a simple rabbit brain atlas emphasizing the cerebellum and brainstem, and the original figures used in the text.

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Handbook of Classical Conditioning
David G. Lavond
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUIFBO

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Chlorinated dioxins and dibenzofurans in the total environment

Manufacturer: Butterworth
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Biology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
Natural History | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0250406047

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Chlorinated Dioxins and Dibenzofurans in the Total Environment II
Lawrence H. Keith , Christoffer Rappe , and Gangadhar Choudhary
Manufacturer: Butterworth-Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Textbook Binding
ASIN: 0250406462

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Chlorinated Dioxins and Dibenzofurans in the Total Environment (Vol. II)
C.; Choudhary, Gangadhar Keith; Rappe
Manufacturer: Butterworth-Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPNSZ0

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Chlorinated Dioxins and Dibenzofurans in the Total Environment.
Gangadhar. Choudhary
Manufacturer: Butterworth
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPLIRU

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Tennis Skills: The Player's Guide

George' Review

Well, 3.5 if they had it....

Taught me new strokes from a book!

GREAT BOOK TO IMPROVE YOUR TENNIS SKILLS !!

Tennis Skills: The Player's Guide
Tom Sadzeck
Manufacturer: Firefly Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Tennis | Racket Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
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Visual Tennis

The Science and Art of Tennis: The Ultimate Pictorial Guide for Singles

Serious Tennis

ASIN: 1552094944

Book Description

Following the formula used successfully in Golf Skills, Soccer Skills and Hoop Drills, we introduce Tennis Skills, an in-depth look at stroke-production skills, followed by a series of drills designed and used by the pros. Games, sets and matches are won only with a strong foundation of skills, from groundstrokes, volleys, serves and lobs, to developing strategy for doubles. In Tennis Skills, the author begins by breaking down each stroke into its elements to ensure a player's basic skills are strong and consistent, including warm-up, grips, body position, stroke, footwork and follow-through. Then he offers a series of more than 40 drills that focus on target areas, strategy, coordination, pressure, and footwork.

Court diagrams help players visualize a stroke's outcome, and easy-to-follow sequential photographs and diagrams accompany clear instruction. Action-packed, full color photographs of the world's greatest professional tennis players provide inspiration and motivation.

Master Stroke sidebars offer succinct, easy-to-remember tips, Fault Finder boxes point out areas of common mistakes and Coach's Comments share the experience and wisdom of seasoned tennis pros.

Customer Reviews:

Tennis Skills: The Player's Guide.......2005-09-02

I looked at all the tennis instructional books in the library and this is the best so I ordered it. Very good on grip. I am a veteran tennis player.

George' Review.......2003-09-27

What An Awsome book! Specialized for beginners to intermediates, or for anyone wanting work on different stroke techniques. Awsome tennis book

Well, 3.5 if they had it...........2003-09-22

For 10 bucks, what do you expect? I guess I expected more! But for the price, it's a good book. A tad bit simplistic and sketchy on the shots, it has a lot of great drills (if you can hit the ball that great after the short instructions!) The pictures are good quality and they take the stills at just the right point--but they need more pics--and more on hitting the ball and more on footwork. There's a few good tips. Overall, I'd say if you're not too serious, this is the book for you! For me, it's on to the next one. -- an avid tennis enthusiast

Taught me new strokes from a book!.......2002-10-30

My coach said "nice backhand slice". I said I got it from a book. I learned a sweet and powerful one-handed backhand from this book, also, and today a tennis friend asked where I learned that stroke since I have hit two-handed for years. This book is modern and it's easy to take what you read to the court to practice.

GREAT BOOK TO IMPROVE YOUR TENNIS SKILLS !!.......2001-03-30

This book is a great aid in helping your tennis level go up fast. I browsed through 10 tennis books before finding this one and believe me, this was by far the most helpful one for me!! This book is based on visual learning. All of the techniques, drills and excercises are photographed, lending you an easy visual reference for the do's and dont's of the game. The book is divided in six chapters covering the different skills needed to improve all the aspects of your game. From the basic techniques (forehand, backhand, serving, volleys, slices, etc.) to singles' and doubles' drills to work on your footwork, targeting, strategy and pressure-handling. It is a GREAT book for begginers and recreational players. More seasoned players can still get several good tips and strategies to improve their game by going back-to-the-basics. I fully recommend this book. If you are thinking about buying a book to help you improve your tennis skills and take you to the next level, this is it!! You will thank Tom Sadzeck for helping you improve your gameplay.

Customer Reviews:

needs index or to be alphabetized.......2007-10-12

While this book is extremely desirable for the vocabulary alone, it would be much better if it was arranged in alphabetical order, or had an index. I bought this book to help me translate news articles. I had to make my own index in order to use this for translation.

Concise & useful.......2007-02-21

As a student of Arabic, I consider this book a gem. It helps increase my vocabulary and identify key words in arabic media. Arranged in an easy format for ease of reference. But you do need to have a basic knowledge of Arabic. For a small 90-page book, its a big help.

A Helpful Compilation.......2006-11-11

This handy little compilation is useful if you just can't get enough Arabic news. Lots of good stuff here. Now if Ms. Kendall could just put together a work to help media watchers cut through the "spin" that taints most of the main Arabic media sources.

Not perfect, but worth the money.......2005-11-20

This does have many words that you could find in the dictionary, but it also has many useful expressions that are not found in the dictionary. Every time I look through this I find a new expression that would be helpful for my speaking or writing. However, I wish it was a little better organized (maybe alphabetized) so that it would be easier to reference while reading the news.

practical and helpful.......2005-10-24

Finally something really practical - a huge confidence booster and time
saver.

Average customer rating:

Mildly informative, but ultimately far too biased

Awe Inspiring Story

A completely biased anti-Huntford book

Fienne's opinion on the

Man-hauler Critiques Man-hauler

Race to the Pole: Tragedy, Heroism, and Scott's Antarctic Quest
Ranulph Fiennes
Manufacturer: Hyperion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
General | England | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
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Journals: Scott's Last Expedition (Oxford World's Classics)

ASIN: B000KHXBK4

Book Description

Now in paperback, the real story of Captain Robert Scott's legendary Antarctic quest, told by the man whom the Guinness Book of World Records has proclaimed "the world's greatest living explorer"

In 1911, Captain Robert Scott and his competitor Roald Amundsen conquered the unconquerable: Antarctica. This perilous race to the South Pole claimed the life of Scott and became the stuff of legend, as well as scrutiny. This compelling, meticulously researched history of Captain Scott and his fatal journey, by renowned modern-day explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, holder of 10 expeditionary records, is the definitive account of this hotly debated quest.

Fiennes offers an account of Scott's motivations and aspirations for the Pole, and his historic clash with Amundsen over goals and approaches. He also reveals the unpredictably disastrous weather patterns that led to the extreme cold that ultimately doomed Scott's return trip. Infused with the intensity of fiction and exhibiting an exhaustive eye for detail found in the greatest historical biographies, Race to the Pole is a prodigious achievement and certain to become a classic in the literature of exploration.

Customer Reviews:

Mildly informative, but ultimately far too biased.......2006-12-07

Having read "Last Place on Earth", this book, and the journals of Scott, Wilson, Bowers, Evans, and Cherry-Garrard, I can safely say that this book carefully cultivates on the most positive aspects of Scott, while hiding almost all of the negative; the little that was mentioned was casually dismissed as no fault of his own.

Fiennes, a seemingly obsessive fan of Scott himself, has gone to great lengths to recreate Scott's manhauling techniques (albeit with modern clothing, gear, and expedition food) in his own transarctic expedition, if only to show that it can be done today. He completely wallpapers over the mistakes in Scott's assessment of dogs, skis, clothing, nutrition, and caloric intake, as well as Scott's poor judgement in setting cairns, preventing fuel loss, staying in tents during moderately bad weather, navigating, and stopping for scientific samples when his time and supplies were running short. This clearly shows this work to be more propaganda than a neutral look at the evidence.

However, Fiennes brings out important background information on Scott not found in print today that proves helpful in better understanding Scott. For that, I bump up my rating to 2 stars.

Awe Inspiring Story.......2006-08-14

This is a great book. Scott and his men are true heroes. Their fortitude in the face of severe privation, relentless bone chilling cold and unimaginable pain and suffering is nothing short of awesome. Like the soldiers mentioned in the book who found inspiration in Scott's story, I too can now tap into an inner strength I didn't know I had. Thank you Sir Fiennes!

A completely biased anti-Huntford book.......2006-07-13

I read this book several months ago wondering how an author who had experienced arctic and antarctic conditions himself could ignore all problematic aspects of Scott's ill fated last expedition.
This is not just about setting the record "straight" concerning "The last place on earth". It is plainly an ambush on Mr. Huntfords personal integrity.

However what bothered me most were the gratuitous snipes about Mr. Huntford's ancestry. The fact that his birth name was Horowitz and he later changed it to Huntford qualifies the books he has written is implausible. Could it be an attempt to produce anti-semitic sentiments?

Having read about Scott and Amundsen since 1973 I have always thought that Scott made major mistakes and was not just defeated by bad luck.
Even though Solomon showed that the weather conditions were probably worse than on average it does not explain away the problems of planning and executing an expedition that was doomed from the beginning because of a faulty or completely missing plan(e.g. transport, horseshoes, navigation, etc., etc.). Analyzing what seeemingly worked on other expeditions (e.g. parroting Shackleton by only using white pony's) using Shackleton's timetable as a clock to race against and belitteling his achievements instead of analyzing problems and learning from mistakes as even Preston pointed out in her sometimes apologetical book "A first rate tragedy". However in contrast to Fiennes she tries to analyze problems in the end.

Perhaps Fiennes was personally hurt by Huntford's book because
he to is an enthusiastic man-hauler as were three of the British man going to the pole.

In contrast while there is a pro-Amundsen bias in "The last palce on earth" I think the facts speak for themselves and the analysis of Huntford. (Of course as anyone can tell I am biased pro-Huntford)

Fienne's opinion on the .......2005-06-03

This is an opinionated retelling of the experience of Captain Robert Scott's attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole. Although Mr. Fiennes has great experience as a Polar explorer in his own right, his claim to be the only author in a position to comment on Scott's decisions, does little to prove he is giving us an objective history of the expedition. Fiennes takes every opportunity to make Scott appear to be a selfless and overly self critical hero, interested primarily in scientific discovery, who was loved by all who are worthy, and has the sole claim to the greatest physical achievement in history. He makes Roald Amundsen out as a selfish, unpleasant, and dangerous man with no friends. Although it is an interesting point of view, it will not satisfy readers who are looking for objective history.

Man-hauler Critiques Man-hauler.......2005-01-28

This is a frustrating book, where a modern artic manhauling ace is "objectively" debunking the critics of Scott, one of the pioneers of artic man-hauling who died with 2 of his comrades only 11 miles from safety after a 1200 mile round-trip trek to the south pole in 1911-1912. The book is very defensive of Scott, and seems squarely aimed at the revisionist analysis of Roland Huntford, about whom he leaves little doubt what he thinks. While Fiennes goes out of his way to attack Huntford's more sensational claims about the personal lives of the actors, and the allegedly duplicitous methods of gaining access to historical material, he unwittingly time and again reinforces Huntford's main assertion: that Scott was from the start in a race for his life against the elements, starvation, and scurvy and knew it, yet made many decisions that hurt his chances. Fiennes' frequent interludes about his own artic man-hauling experiences, while admirable on their own, are distracting in the flow of the narrative and are unhelpful within the context of which Scott made his decisions. After reading Fiennes' book I certainly have a better feeling for the "pro-Scott" side of the debate, and the antipathy directed at Huntford (a modern substitute for Amundsen?), but I don't have any fuller insight into the tragedy of the events. In some respects Fiennes' book is an updated treatment of the Edwardian issue heroic Scott biography, with his own travelogue interspersed. The book is very readable, but ulimately unsatisfying.

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