The magic behind IBM's (NYSE: IBM) longevity lies in its organizing principle, which is to develop strategy based on an idea, rather than a specific product or technology. The Economist takes a look at a number of today's tech giants' organizing principles and their prospects for making it to the 100-year mark.

IBM's central idea is to package solutions that businesses need, adapting as technologies advance. Similarly, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is driven by a philosophy rather than a product, The Economist points out. Steve Jobs's business is organized around the notion of packaging the latest technology in an elegant form and selling it at a premium. The same approach is applied whether the company is selling computers, music players or smartphones. 

In a similar way, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is built on an idea--to make it simple for consumers to buy things. Like Apple, it is able to take the idea and apply it to any number of products, from books to music to computing power. 

A number of today's other tech giants, in contrast, are built around products rather than ideas. Dell's (NASDAQ: DELL) expertise at building PCs the most efficiently and retailing them directly cannot necessarily be applied to other products. Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) are also tied to a large extent to their flagship products. "All these firms are wedded to specific products, not deeper philosophies, and are having trouble navigating technological shifts."

To review 25 milestone's in Big Blue's history, take a look at an article put together by InformationWeek.

For more:
- see this article in The Economist
- see this article in InformationWeek

Related Articles:
Analytics space poised to bloom
IBM touts practical applications for "Watson"