IBM and DELL
Chuz, you said, "If IBM were smart Gerstner would ink a deal with Dell ASAP. At least they would get to supply parts and keep their brand image.
IMO that is true. And I think that if it were that simple, it would have been a done deal long ere now. It sounds simple as we outline it here, but we are talking about the dismantling, dissolution, and elimination of an ENTIRE group. Further,it is a group which carries a lot of tradition and image. Does it make economic sense? We think it does. But remember, IBM has an extremely large and deeply entrenched bureaucracy. Mr. Thomas, Senior Vice President and manager of the Personal Systems Group has said that his group won't just roll over and play dead.
Message 8688129
We are talking about a major corporate political battle, about the continued existence of a major production group of one of the world's largest corporations. What happens to the workforce, the men and women employed by the group? We give Dell's management good marks for not wanting to lay off personnel (At the annual meeting last year, I believe it was Kevin Rollins, Mort Topfer, or Michael himself who stated that if DELL had to lay off personnel, then senior management hadn't done their jobs.), but yet are unwilling to accord IBM management similar sense of responsibility and sentiments? (True, IBM has had reductions before, and also true, DELL is special!) (^;
I think that over time DELL will assimilate many of IBM's PC production functions, whether by gaining market share, or by mutual agreement. But I do believe it will be an evolutionary, more gradual process than many wish to believe. In any case it will NOT be an easy step for IBM to take, and it will NOT be accomplished without a lot of very high level policy battles.
DELLish, 3. |
