Executive MBA - Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?

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ASSIGNMENT FOR INDEPENDENT STUDY – I

Program	Executive MBA
Title	Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? [ISBN 978-0-00-730295-6; Harper Collins Publishers]
Author	Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

Answer all questions

Question. 1.        In April 1993, Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. joined IBM as the CEO at a time when the company was bleeding with problems like falling revenues in its mainframe business, loss of customer trust, falling brand image, and huge employee turnover. Briefly discuss the short-term and long term measures taken by Gerstner and his leadership team to deal with these problems and achieve the company’s turnaround.

Answer:

 Steps taken to achieve company’s Turnaround :

1.       Gerstner believed that the key to fixing IBM’s problem was “All about execution”. Gerstner decided to analyze the behaviour of company’s employees and customers and apply his own interpretation of the company’s inherent strength. In doing so he turned the business of IBM around from the brink of bankruptcy. At the end of Gerstner’s reign as the Chairman and CEO, the company employed

Question. 2. According to Gerstner, “A company’s initial culture is usually determined by its founder’s mindset – that person’s values, beliefs, preferences, and also idiosyncrasies. … In IBM’s case, that was Thomas J. Watson, Sr.” Critically analyze the steps taken by Gerstner to transform IBM’s culture to meet the demands of the business environment of the 1990s by radically improving the collective capacity of IBM employees to create value.

Answer:  Critically analysis of steps taken by Gerstner:

1..IBM’s people were one of the Gerstner’s targets for change. At IBM, employee aren’t just not resources but the main revenue generator. An organization can be termed as a collective capacity of its employees to create value for itself and customer. Gerstner’s most important accomplishment was to establish a culture that brought employees of IBM closer to its customers. This was formulated by inspiring employees to be

Question. 3.        In September 1993, Gerstner communicated a set of eight principles to all IBM employees worldwide, with the thought that those principles would be the underpinnings of IBM’s new culture for the rest of his tenure. Comment on the relevance (high / medium / low) of each of these eight principles to IBM’s success in the next two decades (2011 – 2030). Also, given the macro-environment of the global technology business in the 21st century, if you were to add two more principles to this list, what would they be? Why?

Answer: Eight  principles suggested by Gerstner:

1.       The marketplace is the driving force behind everything we do.

Under this principle IBM took vow to focus on serving customers and, in the process, beating the competition.

1.        

2.        

Question. 4.        “If one were to reduce the story of IBM’s transformation over the past decade to the bare essentials, the saga would pivot on two big bets: one on the industry’s direction, and one on IBM’s own strategy.” – Gerstner. In your opinion, how successful has IBM been in executing these bets. Explain.

Answer:

IBM has been really successful in executing these plans.

If you go back about a quarter of a century, IBM was at the pinnacle of success. Over the previous two decades we had practically invented general-purpose computing for business. We had helped put a man on the moon. Our

Question 5. ‘Great institutions are not managed; they are led.’ - Discuss with examples from Indian businesses.

Answer:  Great institutions are not managed; they are led.

The difference between leadership and management is all about people and getting the very best of them. Great leadership elicits an emotional response from your team members. Of course they are not working for free. They are being compensated for their time and efforts. Yet inspired employees can create extraordinary results. Leadership unites your team members toward a common goal that is greater than the sum of each team

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