ABSTRACT
On Tuesday, December 20, 2005, the public learned of the departure of Steve Ward, CEO of Lenovo. The move came as China's Lenovo seemed poised to become the world's leading PC maker, despite its difficult start. IBM, an icon of corporate America, was founded in 1911 as The Computer-Tabulating-Recording Company. When IBM announced its interest in selling its PC division, Lenovo jumped at the chance; for Lenovo, the IBM deal was a giant leap forward. It gave Lenovo access to the computer giant's technology and expertise, a foothold into the lucrative US and European markets, and worldwide brand recognition. As part of the deal, Lenovo obtained the right to use the IBM brand name for five years. Moreover, Lenovo hoped to benefit from IBM's long experience in global marketing and sales. But IBM had sales, support, and delivery operations all around the world. Thus, Lenovo–IBM would obtain a competitive advantage that its closest competitors, Hewlett-Packard and Dell, could not match.
