This book is the first authoritative business and technical history of IBM to appear in fifteen years—and a lot has happened in that time. Often overshadowed by the new Titans of the Internet Era, IBM with its 400,000 employees remains the world's oldest and largest supplier of computer services. Jim Cortada is especially well qualified to write this book—as both one of our most respected and prolific computer historians and a life-long IBMer.
Martin Campbell-Kelly, Warwick University
Jim Cortada's wonderful book took me back fifty years. My entire business education began with IBM, a company with a unique culture and ethos. At IBM I learned a seemingly obvious lesson, one that many modern companies (and later even IBM) ignored, that long-term success is dependent on how you treat your customers and employees. Cortada makes that culture and ethos the centerpiece of his magnificent history, documenting the vast changes that we as a society have faced and how IBM has always been there with us, in good and bad times for us both.
Ernest E. [Lee] Keet, President, Vanguard Atlantic Ltd.
In IBM:The Rise and Fall and Reinvention of a Global Icon, Dr. Cortada gives us the fullest possible perspective of IBM's leadership and presence in our evolving technology-centric world. We sit at the feet of a master observer, storyteller, and technologist. It is unlikely that any other person holds the depth of direct experience and observation skills he possesses to be able to tell this remarkable story. It is an essential work for one wishing to understand the historical development of our global technology industry.
David G. Arscott, co-founder, Compass Technology Group, Inc.
[An] excellent and I am tempted to label definitive book.... The research and background context is amazing and the book is readable throughout.
Tyler Cowen
Marginal Revolution
A good read. It is engaging and replete with juicy tidbits. The detailed discussion about sales, arguably the firm's most influential function and its main source of competitiveness for much of the twentieth century, is the book's key contribution to the literature on IBM.
Nature
[IBM] touches but lightly on the history of technology and is written primarily with a readership of business historians and corporate professionals in mind. Cortada ascribes IBM's brand success more to its historical managerial outlook and sales culture than its engineering units.... Authoritative.
TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION
A behemoth of a book for a behemoth of a company.... Chronicles the century-plus long span of a company that once dominated American business. As a narrative history of a sprawling business, it succeeds, with Cortada weaving in more scholarly historiographical debates and analysis as relevant throughout the book. The book is massive and exhaustively researched.... An ambitious and well-executed narrative business history, and many different readers will find something of value in its many pages.
Information and Culture
Cortada provides a world-spanning example of an alternative corporate culture approach that demanded sustained effort from its employees—but treated them accordingly.
Journal of American History
Unlike previous IBM stories by other authors, Cortada takes the time to engage in scholarly debate on relevant topics throughout each chapter. In doing so, it offers a robust and thought-provoking discussion of the 130-year history (from 1880 to 2012) of one of the most important and iconic companies of the 20th century.
Arena Pública
