IBM: Anatomy of a corporate turnaround

During a conference call with financial analysts this week, IBM's CFO said that this quarter was one of IBM's strongest in years, raising the company's full-year outlook. However, it was just two short years ago that IBM was in trouble--performing well below expectations. This type of turnaround is impressive but how is it done? IBM has been providing corporate packages of research, software and services; it has hired aggressively in India and most importantly, the company was reorganized from a traditional multinational with country-by-country operations that worked in silos, into a seamless global enterprise organized by centers of expertise based on industries and technical skills. However, IBM still faces daunting long-term challenges, such as Indian insurgents in technology services business.  

For more on IBM's turnaround:
- see this CNET article on Big Blue

ALSO: IDG reports that the emerging nations of Brazil, China, India and Russia together represented five percent of IBM's second quarter revenue and it expects those numbers to double over the next four years. Article