Harvard Business School, Professor Richard S. Tedlow will discuss the story of IBM as the leading technology company in the 1960s taking a huge risk in developing a new family of computers – a financial investment approximately three times its annual sales (1960).
In 1964, IBM held press conferences in 62 US cities and 14 countries around the world, where Thomas Watson, Jr., the Chairman of the Board, and CEO announced that the new System/360 was "a sharp departure from the concepts of the past." There were to be six separate compatible machines, with interchangeable memories, providing 19 different combinations, and a total of 40 peripherals. No other company had ever introduced six computer models of totally new design, at one time, in a technology never tested in the marketplace, and with programming abilities of the greatest complexity.
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Join Professor Tedlow, as he facilitates an interactive discussion, which analyzes this very high risk, very high reward business decision. With history as the teacher, Tedlow will ask probing questions as he leads the debate on such issues as:
* Why would a company that’s leading the market attempt a project of such immense financial and technological risk?
* What were the key success factors for the IBM 360? What was the "secret sauce" in the company culture that allowed its people
to succeed with this startling innovation?
* Why was it possible for a non-technical CEO, like Watson to manage such a technologically complex project? Would this be
possible in today’s technological climate?
* What can Google learn from this lesson? Microsoft?
* What can other great companies learn about change and innovation from this business decision?
Who should attend this event?
MBA's and Business Managers. Technology professionals responsibile for acquisitions, product development, and tech investing.
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Registration Fee: $25 per person.
Venue: Computer History Museum -- 1401 N Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, CA 94043 | Directions
Date: Thursday, August 14, 2008 Time: 6:00pm - 9:00pm
To prepare for this Lecture: Read This Case
Event Sponsor: Computer History Museum |
www.computerhistory.org
Professor Richard S. Tedlow
Richard S. Tedlow is the Class of 1949 Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, where he is a specialist in the history of business.
Professor Tedlow received his B.A. from Yale in 1969 and his M.A. and Ph.D. in history from Columbia in 1971 and 1976 respectively. He came to the Harvard Business School on a fellowship in 1978 and joined the faculty in 1979. From 1979 through 1982, he taught First Year Marketing. His involvement in marketing has continued, and he has been a member of the faculty of the "Strategic Retail Management Seminar," the "Top Management Seminar for Retailers and Suppliers," "Managing Brand Meaning," and the "Strategic Marketing Management" executive education programs. From 1978 to the present, he has been involved in the School's Business History program. In 1992 and 1993, he taught a course entitled "Business, Government, and the International Economy." He has also taught in numerous executive programs at the Harvard Business School as well as at corporations, including programs in marketing strategy and general management. His book -- Giants of Enterprise: Seven Business Innovators and the Empires They Built (HarperBusiness, 2001) -- was selected by Business Week as one of the top ten business books of 2001.
Professor Tedlow’s most recent book, Andy Grove: The Life and Times of an American, was published by Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin Group USA, in November 2006. This book was selected by Business Week as one of the top ten business books of 2006.
Tedlow's Books:
2006 Bestseller, The Life and Times of an American: Andy Grove
2002 Bestseller, Giants of Enterprise: Seven Business Innovators and the Empires They Built
