The Rise, Fall, and Reinvention of IBM, With Jim Cortada

IBM shaped the way the world did business for decades, driving
the government’s technological innovation, competing to build the
first PCs, and adapting to service economy. Few people know IBM’s
fascinating history as well as Jim Cortada, a senior research
fellow at the University of Minnesota and the author of IBM: The
Rise and Fall and Reinvention of a Global Icon. He spent 38 years
at IBM in sales, consulting, managerial, and research roles. Rob
and Jackie sit down with Jim to discuss how IBM’s strategies led
to its biggest successes and failures, and how these decisions
shed light on global history.


Mentioned:


James W. Cortada, IBM: The Rise and Fall and Reinvention of a
Global Icon(The MIT Press, 2019).

James W. Cortada, The Digital Hand: How Computers Changed the
Work of American Manufacturing, Transportation, and Retail
Industries (Oxford University Press, 2003).

Alfred D. Chandler Jr., The Visible Hand: The Managerial
Revolution in American Business (Belknap Press, 1993).

Robert D. Atkinson, “Who Lost Lucent?: The Decline of
America’s Telecom Equipment Industry,” American Affairs Journal,
2020.

Aurelien Portuese, “The Digital Markets Act: European
Precautionary Antitrust“ (ITIF, 2021).