Personal background:
Louis V. Gerstner Jr.
IBM
3-year return: 185%
Age: 57
CEO since: 1993
Gerstner defied a chorus--no, a teeming mass--of skeptics when he revived doddering Big Blue,
breathing life back into its dying mainframe and desktop businesses. In the process, he
overhauled one of the most entrenched, straitlaced corporate cultures ever devised by man. Yet,
by all accounts, Gerstner is far from satisfied. From here on, he knows, he can't just fix. He
has got to invent. Years ago Gerstner opined, "This technology stuff is hard, and if I'm a
company, what I really want is somebody who can help me implement it." So in addition to
slashing costs and making sure that research-and-development money gets spent on something that
might actually produce a profit, Gerstner has been gradually reducing IBM's dependence on both
mainframes and PCs for revenue. In their place, he's emphasizing the development of software and
services that can generate a higher return on capital than putty-colored boxes. Not that
Gerstner is ignoring the boxes altogether. New tricks in IBM's state-of-the-art manufacturing
facility in Raleigh, North Carolina, with its ballyhooed advanced fulfillment initiative, have
reduced the time parts spend in inventory, reduced labor requirements 20 percent, and cut
manufacturing defects by 50 percent. Improvements of this order recently helped persuade Dell to
sign a blockbuster pact to buy $16 billion worth of IBM parts over the next seven years.
當(dāng)Gerstner使蹣跚的Big Blue恢復(fù)生機(jī)，為它正在死去的大型主機(jī)和桌面電腦業(yè)務(wù)注入新的活力的時(shí)候，他是
在同一個(gè)無(wú)神論的合唱隊(duì)，不，是一伙龐大的人群在對(duì)抗。在此過(guò)程中，他闖過(guò)了一個(gè)人類(lèi)所發(fā)明的最大的壕
溝，頑固的企業(yè)文化。但總的來(lái)說(shuō)，Gerstner還遠(yuǎn)沒(méi)有滿意。他知道，他不能固定，他要去發(fā)明。多年前
Gerstner認(rèn)為，“這些技術(shù)上的東西太難了。如果我有一個(gè)公司，我真正需要的是有人能夠幫助我實(shí)施它�！�
因此，在削減成本以及保證研究開(kāi)發(fā)資金用于的確可能產(chǎn)生效益的項(xiàng)目上的同時(shí)，Gerstner已經(jīng)開(kāi)始逐步減少
IBM對(duì)大型主機(jī)及PC機(jī)的收入依賴，作為替代，第強(qiáng)調(diào)了軟件和服務(wù)，這比那些五顏六色的機(jī)子能夠產(chǎn)生高額
利潤(rùn)。當(dāng)然Gerstner并未完全忘記機(jī)箱。IBM新的藝術(shù)級(jí)生產(chǎn)設(shè)備上玩的把戲是在 Raleigh,加利弗尼亞南部，
以及其先進(jìn)的自動(dòng)實(shí)施功能的大肆吹捧，已經(jīng)減少在零件總量上花費(fèi)的時(shí)間，減少了20%的勞動(dòng)力需求，減少
了50%的生產(chǎn)缺陷。對(duì)此的改善說(shuō)服了 Dell簽定了重大的合同： 在未來(lái)7年內(nèi)購(gòu)買(mǎi)一千六百萬(wàn)美元的IBM零部
件。
（未完待續(xù)）
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