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Who Says Elephants Can't Dance: Notes

Part II  Chapter 12 The IBM culture was the product of two predominant forces - The runaway success of the System/360      - little competitive threat, high profit margins, commanding market position      - true economic forces don't apply      - company and people lose touch with external realities           - what's happening in the marketplace is irrelevant to company's success      - forgot how fast things change and settled into its success - Antitrust suit      - 13 years of threatened federally mandated breakup             -scrutiny changes behavior      - eventually dropped and labeled without merit Vertical integration - merging two businesses that are different stages of production. exp: food production and grocery stores Forward integration - merging two vertical business towards the consumer Horizontal integration - merging two of the same business. exp: two grocery stores With the introduction of UNIX into the marketplace ver

The Innovator's Solution: Notes

Summarized theories that can guide managers who need to grow new business with predictable success become the disruptors rather than the disruptees - and ultimately kill the well-run, established competitors. Chapter 1 Achieving and sustaining growth for a business - Unpredictable - managers must be able to manage uncertainty      - Do not try to predict what individual might do      - Focus on understanding the forces that act on the managers           -predictable forces when building a business - The growth markets of tomorrow are small today - Theory - contingent statements of what causes what and why      - use the right theory for the situation      - a sound theory can remove many causes of failure How theories are built - Describe the phenomenon that we wish to understand - Classify the phenomenon into categories      -highlight the most meaningful differences in complex phenomena - Articulate a theory to assert what causes the phenomenon to occur, and why    

Week 1 - The Critical Role of Technology-based, Disruptive Innovations to Business - Complete

Focus The critical role of technology-based, disruptive innovations to a business The IBM near-death experience of the early 1990's Readings Find the notes in the book title's post Gerstner, Louis V. Who Says Elephants Can't Dance.  Part II; part I optional Christiansen, Clay, and Michael Raynor. Innovator's Solution.  Chapter 1 Lecture Notes Questions Was the IBM experience – rise, fall, re-birth – unique, or typical of other companies? Rise and fall are typical, but their rebirth was unique. Would IBM have undergone its huge changes, if it had not gone through a near-death experience? Not likely. They were spurred to change because of the threat of failure. How did this history and recent changes influence IBM’s particular Internet and e-business strategies? IBM had to innovate or they would fade away. Their past business model would not be effective in the new marketplace. They poured resources into acquisitions and development st