The Tabulating Machine Company, International Time Recording Coimpany and the Computing Scale Company of America consolidated in 1911 to form the Computing Tabulating Recording company. Over the next 20 years, the company continued to acquire and merge with other organizations, becoming International Business Machines (IBM) in 1933. IBM continued to grow in the coming decades, maturing into a strong presence in calculating machines, typewriters and similar machinery. However, the advent of the electronic computer and the leadership provided by Thomas Watson moved the company into the realm of the multinational organization. IBM came to epitomize the American-based global organization, employing close to 400,000 workers worldwide at its height in the mid-1980s (Scheier, 1993, p. 1). The company's stock was considered a blue-chip issue, and institutions (pensions funds, for example) held 39 percent of the stock in early 1993 (Vohra, 1993, p. 1210).
The 1980s, which began well for the company, brought about a dramatic change in IBM's fortunes. In 1983, the stock sold for a high of 134.25; it reached 175.875 in 1987, then began a gradual decline that has continued into the 1990s. From a high of 100.375 in 1992, the stock is now trading in the high 40s (Vohra, 1993, p. 1210). The company took the unusual step of reducing its dividend by 54 percent in 1993 (Vohra, 1993, p. 1210), and violated an unwritten company policy of no lay-offs, reducing its workforce by 25,000 in late 1992, and with additional cuts forecast (Niemond, 1993, p. 1096).
IBM is one of the most carefully watched companies in the nation, due in part to its size and to the amount of influence its products and policies have in the nation's economies. In the microcomputer market, IBM and Apple machines are the two recognized standards. The company's recent downturn has brought about concern from a number of quarters because of the company's influence on America...