Nine years ago the wounded giant ibm rolled over and very nearly aspirated its own vomit. What a collapse that was! Five years earlier IBM had been the planet's heavyweight champ of market cap. It had 400,000 spit-shined employees. Those were gravy days for men's haberdasheries around Westchester County, N.Y., vending all those millions of blue suits, white shirts and regimental ties. Speaking of clothes, the U.S. Department of Justice crept all over IBM like a cheap pair of boxers. In this case, the government lawyers had cause to creep. One of IBM's less savory practices in those days was a sales technique called "FUD" (fear, uncertainty and doubt). IBM used it with thuggish delight whenever it felt like stopping a CIO from buying a color other than blue. IBM would put on a sly Jack Nicholson grin and say to these CIOs: "Boys, nobody gets fired for buying IBM." Wink, wink. The CIOs didn't stand a chance.
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