Operations Management Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Operations Management - Term Paper Example The company also offers consulting services for its customers, helping them understand the best applications for which the hardware and the software provision by the company can be put into by customer organizations. The company was established in 1911, through a merger of three technology companies, and adopted it’s current name in 1924. In the year 2011, the company was ranked as the 7th most profitable company in the US, being the 18th largest company of the US (Walters, 2011). On the global chart, the company is ranked the 31st largest company of the year 2011. Therefore, International Business Machine Company is a force to reckon with in the global arena that has curved a competitive edge in the technology industry, which many other companies have not been able. The history of IBM dates back in the 1880s, where the company manufactured a range of machinery such as weighing machines, meat slicers, time keepers, under the name of Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation ( CTR), which later changed to the present day IBM (Buck, 2006). The company diversified its production activities to include computer components later, to extend the risks of business failure and low profitability associated with specializing in a single product line for a business. The organizational culture of the company was effectively established in 1914 by the president of the company, who required that the organization focus on the customer as the key to the success of the company. Employee motivation, participation in business decision-making and in running the affairs of the company dates back then. This culture of the company has been maintained to date. This culture was entrenched in the organization through hiring a disabled worker in 1914 and establishing employee education department in 1916 (Walters, 2011). These occurrences were meant to base the success of the company on the satisfaction and professionalism of the employee, who would then serve the company’s c ustomer with diligence. Due to the high rate of growth that the company was experiencing, including geographical expansion to other countries in Europe, the name of the company was found to be too limiting (Benjamin, 2010). Consequently, the company sought to change its name, adopting its present name from the CTR’s Canadian publication in 1924, a name meant to reflect the company’s mission and aspirations (Doug, 2008). To reduce costs and improve shareholders value, IBM has adopted a supply chain that enables it to bring better and cheaper products in the market. Such areas covered by the supply chain include product development, procurement, supply chain planning and logistics (Buck, 2006). The company collaborates with trading partners to reduce the costs of operation and improve its revenue growth, through negotiating with its suppliers for cheaper supplies, which it procures in bulk. As an element of its supply chain management, the company has adopted business pr ocess outsourcing, allowing it to have its services run by other agencies such as PWC. This contributes to operational efficiency and financial gains for the company. The company does the