There is a great article in this week's issue of BusinessWeek on IBM, page 130. He goes into some of the reasons for super growth in the services arena.
The dynamics of the "Winner Take All" phenomena is just hinted at but the IBM shareholders are the beneficiaries. There was a book on the phenomena a couple of years ago, but I can't lay my hands on my copy. There are some fundamental reasons precisely why it is that the strong get stronger. It is the same reason that movie stars and top athletes command the rewards they get.
When presented with high stakes and big risks, the best strategy for the risk-taker is to go with the leader in the field, the biggest, the most established, most experienced, with the most resources, and the one who has done this before successfully. Customer after customer and prospect after prospect goes through this process. There is no other sane option. IBM has the best list of huge, established customers, bar none. When businesses are presented with a "must get into this in a big way" requirement, as they are everyday with ecommerce, IBM will get even bigger and stronger. It's 120 now and it will double again within the year. |
