¶ … International Business Machines Corporation in detail. The paper is divided into three distinct parts with the corporate history constituting the beginning of the paper followed by the structure of the corporation, its shareholders, officers and the board of directors. The last part before the conclusion unfolds the precious information pertaining to the financial status of International Business Machines Corporation. The Works Cited eight sources in MLA format. Business Law

Entrepreneurs set up business ventures and assign people as well as invest heavily in order to reap massive benefits by selling their products and ideas. Where investment, sound financial stability, confidence, technical know-how and other factors play a significant role, it has been observed that working on and building trust is what it takes to establish a reputable name in the industry. Over the years since its inception, International Business Machines also referred to as IBM Corporation has successfully managed to gain the confidence of its consumers and the diverse clientele spread worldwide. However, it took the organization many years of immense work stress and relentless efforts to establish a name that is known for trust and quality that many of its competitors can only wish for. How IBM as corporation emerged and developed into what it is today can be discussed in the following section of this research paper in the light of the corporate history of International Business Machines.

Part I: Corporate History of IBM

In this part of the research paper, we shall discuss the formation of International Business Machines Corporation and in doing so we shall answer the following questions:

When was IBM incorporated?

How was it incorporated?

Who was the promoter?

What state was it incorporated in?

What were the purpose and the type of corporation?

What were and are the powers of the corporation?

June 15, 1911 marked the incorporation of International Business Machines Corporation in the state of New York, United States. However, when it came into being, the company was referred to as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (International Business Machines Corporation; Old Stock Certificate). Nonetheless, the corporate history of IBM dates back to 1890. "In 1911, Charles R. Flint, a noted trust organizer, engineered the merger of Hollerith's company with two others, Computing Scale Co. Of America and International Time Recording Co. The combined Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co., or C-T-R, manufactured and sold machinery ranging from commercial scales and industrial time recorders to meat and cheese slicers and, of course, tabulators and punch cards" (International Business Machines Corporation; Old Stock Certificate). The IBM of today that has thousands of employees once had a mere workforce comprising of 1,300 workers with operational plants and functioning offices spread from Endicott and Binghamton, New York to Dayton, Ohio; Detroit, Mich.; Washington, D.C., and Toronto, Canada (International Business Machines Corporation; Old Stock Certificate). With working taking toll and rapidly building work-related stress on Flint's shoulders, Thomas Watson became a part of the diligent team at IBM as general manager in 1914 (International Business Machines Corporation; Old Stock Certificate). Watson, being one of the most successful and effective salesmen at the National Cash Register Co soon assisted the IBMers to become what the firm was capable of becoming that is the number one brand name in the entire technologically oriented industry (International Business Machines Corporation; Old Stock Certificate).

In 1924, considering the worldwide acceptance of the quality manufacturing and first class customer service by the ever-flourishing organization, the firm established its corporate presence as well as reputation that soon became hard to beat and compete in Europe, South America, Asia and Australia (International Business Machines Corporation; Old Stock Certificate). And the once newly born firm took the name of International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated as the IBM (International Business Machines Corporation; Old Stock Certificate). This corporation played a vital role in helping the government of the United States of America during World War II. For the same reason, it managed to reap benefits and stand on its feet due to financial stability in times when the remaining industry fell apart due to heavy losses. "The war years also marked IBM's first steps toward computing. The Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, also called the Mark I, was completed in 1944 after six years of development with Harvard University. It was the first machine that could execute long computations automatically. Over 50 feet long, 8 feet high, and weighing almost 5 tons, the Mark I took less than a second to solve an addition problem, but about six seconds for multiplication and twice as long for division -- far slower than any pocket calculator today" (International Business Machines Corporation; Old Stock Certificate). However, the corporate history as recorded and documented provides sufficient evidence of the claim by some of the best authors and renowned journalists regarding IBM's ruthless participation in Hitler's brutal operation that took away the innocent lives of innumerable Jews. Edwin Black...

Watson, contributed to Nazi Power and advanced the holocaust (Black, Backcover). Supported by extensive research and thorough analysis, Edwin Black presents his thesis statement that claims the following thereby throwing light and outrageously unfolding the dark secrets of IBM's corporate history:
IBM facilitated the identification and roundup of millions of Jews during the 12 years of the Third Reich" (Hirsh, p. 38). This is because, Black is of the view that "IBM actively supplied the technology and expertise that aided Nazi Germany in its savage efficiency" (Hirsh, p. 38). Nonetheless, the company's history shows a constant progress and growth. After Mark I, the corporation came up with IBM 701 that utilized vacuum tubes for the convenience of its users in big computers in 1952 (International Business Machines Corporation; Old Stock Certificate). This remarkable invention "executed 17,000 instructions per second and was used primarily for government and research work" (International Business Machines Corporation). It was only this marvelous technologically equipped organization that introduced FORTRAN in 1957, a computer language that is widely used to date and is the abbreviation of Formula Translation (International Business Machines Corporation; Old Stock Certificate). IBM introduced IBM 7090 in 1959 wherein transistors were the possible surrogates for vacuum tubes that were capable of performing "229,000 calculations per second" (International Business Machines Corporation; Old Stock Certificate). Hence, it would not be inaccurate if we consider Thomas Sr. As the founder as well as the pioneer who promoted the concept of computer and other technological advancements for IBM and helped made IBM as the number one leader in the hardware as well as software industry (International Business Machines Corporation; Old Stock Certificate). Also under the dynamic leadership of Thomas Jr., IBM's "revenue grew from $900 million to $8 billion, and the number of employees rose from 72,500 to 270,000" (International Business Machines Corporation; Old Stock Certificate). Moreover, on April 7, 1964, with the versatile and daring management and innovative skills IBM came up with it's next most successful innovation by the title System/360 (International Business Machines Corporation; Old Stock Certificate). The corporate history of IBM saw the rise and fall of many CEO's and for the latter part of IBM's history Jeff Walden's The IBM PC in your corporation is a great read. Walden in his book has given a thorough account of how IBM PC's have made a difference in the related field.

Part II: Structure of IBM

The Board of Directors has the most authority at IBM and the greatest say in all of its affairs. However, the members of this board also shoulder the highest level of responsibility. The senior management staff at IBM comprises of the following: (*The entire list has been taken verbatim) (IBM Press Room)

Donofrio, Nicholas M.

Senior Vice President

Technology & Manufacturing

Elix, Doug T.

Senior Vice President & Group Executive

IBM Global Services

Harreld, J. Bruce

Senior Vice President

Strategy

Horn, Dr. Paul M.

Senior Vice President & Director of Research

Joyce, John R.

Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Kohnstamm, Abby F.

Senior Vice President

Marketing

Lawrie, Michael J.

Senior Vice President & Group Executive

IBM Global Sales and Distribution

Loughridge, Mark

Senior Vice President & General Manager

Global Financing

MacDonald, J. Randall

Senior Vice President

Human Resources

Mills, Steven A.

Senior Vice President & Group Executive

Software Group

Moffat, Robert W., Jr.

Senior Vice President

Integrated Supply Chain

Palmisano, Samuel J.

Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer

Pearson, Harriet

Chief Privacy Officer

Sanford, Linda S.

Senior Vice President

Enterprise On Demand Transformation

Zeitler, William M.

Senior Vice President & Group Executive

Systems Group

The chief executives as well as the senior management at IBM are all selected by the approval of the board of directors. Moreover, the board concludes all other major appointments, retirements and resignations. Furthermore, the role of the board as well as all the executives and chairmen is that of the leaders and supervisors. It is their responsibility to instill IBM's pride, motivation and clear perception and to inculcate a strong sense of responsibility in the entire workforce. IBM offers group life insurance (1934), survivor benefits (1935) and paid vacations (1936) to its employees and officers.

Moreover, the Executive Compensation and Management Resources Committee is also governed by the board of…