International Business Machines Corporation - Report Sample

Introduction

International Business Machines Corporation, IBM, is an American technology company with its headquarters in New York. It was starred in the late 1800s by Herman Hollerith as Computing, Tabulating & Recording Company. Later in 1911, IBM was established, which marked multiple transformations into the present-day technology giant (Mills, 1996). There have been many changes, based on forecasts and market trends, which have led to the present day IBM. The magnitude of the changes is dictated by the dynamic environment in the information technology industry. Therefore, the dynamic environment and competition form the basis of its core operating activities. Along its supply chain, there are various parties with assigned duties that contribute towards its successful operations. The IBM company description enhances a better understanding of its products, company profile and supply chain analysis.

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Operating Activities

The operating activities of an organization are specific activities it undertakes to provide commodities to the market. They are the revenue-producing activities the organization is involved in its operations. In the case of IBM, there are numerous operations it is engaged in its business. The first and significant operating activity of IBM is the provision of information technology infrastructure. The organization has manufacturing and development divisions that enhance the production of information technology products for its customers. The organization develops in-house systems for many reputable organizations worldwide. Furthermore, the organization deals in the manufacture and sale of computer middleware and hardware for its clients (Lawrence et al., 2010). Moreover, it offers consultancy services in information technology, which is because of the vast experience it has in technology. Research is the other significant operating activity of the organization, having the highest number of United States patents for a long time. The operational activities form the basis of its business model and supply chain engagements.

Competition

The information technology industry is dynamic, with a wide range of opportunities available for the people that deal with its undertakings. Therefore, there is stiff competition, with some market leaders taking advantage of the competition to grow their dominance. There are numerous organizations that IBM competes with because of the similarity of operating activities. The major competitors in IBM's market are Wipro Technologies, Accenture, and Hewlett Packard (Xue et al., 2018). The competitors are some of the leading organizations in the world regarding information technology. Therefore IBM is always engaged in efforts to meet the high competition in the market. However, IBM has a competitive advantage that is based on cost leadership. IBM has its operations being cost-effective, therefore contributing to the affordability of its products in the market. Coupled with innovativeness and excellent customer satisfaction, the organization enjoys a market leader's stats in the long run. Lastly, there are excellent supply chain management undertakings, which increase the degree of satisfaction among the stakeholders.

Conclusion

IBM is one of the most reputable brands in the information technology industry. The reputation is based on the high quality of commodities sold, the cost leadership benefit, and a successful brand. Therefore, the organization has a basis for ensuring market leadership based on the operations it runs. Despite the high rate of competition in the market, among other threats, the company has managed to succeed in its operating activities. Information technology is dynamic; therefore, IBM has always invested in research and development in its supply chain, which increases its dominance in the market.

Reference

Lawrence, R., Perlich, C., Rosset, S., Khabibrakhmanov, I., Mahatma, S., Weiss, S., & Kumar, S. (2010, February 1). Operations research improves sales force productivity at IBM. Interfaces, 40(1), 33-46. https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/inte.1090.0468

Mills, D. Q. (1996, September 22). The decline and rise of IBM. Sloan Management Review, 37(4), 78-83. https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA18608374&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=0019848X&p=AONE&sw=w

Xue, Y., Zhou, Y., & Dasgupta, S. (2018, June 26). Mining Competitive Intelligence from Social Media: A Case Study of IBM. In PACIS (p. 313).
https://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1312&context=pacis2018.