IBM

BM has been a dominant force in the computer industry since the late 1950s . Why do you think this is the case ? More specifically , why were so many large corporations seemingly committed to big Blue (as IBM is affectionately known , at least until the early 1990s

The computer industry is an inseparable part of the present human society . However , the electronic computer industry dates back to merely the 1940s - a little less than 70 years from present . One of the major companies of the computer industry is IBM or the Big Blue , as

it was known in its hey days . The company entered the computer industry in 1953 however it was not until the next decade that the company gained prominence (Reed , 2004 ,

. 12 . Even today IBM remains one of the largest companies in the world despite the rapid changes in the market in recent times . The reason for the dominance of IBM in the market was a combination of its strong focus on marketing combined with a superior sales force , and a series of software and electronic innovations focusing on lowering the cost of computers , along with increasing the extent of computer usage (Egan , 1998 , para . 6

The breakthrough for IBM came in 1964 with the release of System /360 by IBM , a modular computer which could be upgraded , and worked with the same operating system for the entire range . This was in direct contrast to the other existing computer companies at the time like Sperry Rand Control Data , Burroughs etc . all of which used different software and storage systems for all of their computers and peripherals (Philipson 2003 ,

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While the competitors did catch up with this novel approach , and the computers made by IBM were not always better than its competitors , the company gained a major edge due to its decision to invest in software and relationship marketing by building close contact with the programmers in large corporations like GM for understanding and expanding the use of technology (Egan , 1998 , para . 5 . Also , since the newer systems were always made compatible with the existing one , which meant a long term reliance on IBM by its customers , who were not afraid to upgrade newer products . The upgrades of the systems themselves were modular , and did not necessarily mean a change in the entire system . The competitor 's systems were still not compatible , which meant that IBM had a large and loyal customer base , and could sell its products at a premium as compared to other companies (Egan , 1998 , para . 6

When the microcomputer industry began to grow , IBM made yet another major decision to outsource the computer components from other manufacturers , such that standard components were used . The resultant system Intel 8088 took less than year to be ready . This was IBM 's advent into the personal computer market of which it became a global leader (Philipson , 2003 ,

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The other companies in the market started to concentrate on building the systems which were IBM-compatible...