Publisher's Synopsis
When Lou Gerstner, a high-tech neophyte, took the helm at IBM in 1993, the company was in a death spiral. One of the nation's premiere industrial giants seemed destined to wither away and die in bankruptcy. In 1999, after a miraculous recovery, IBM is vital and thriving once again. The stock has reached its all-time high, the balance sheet is cashrich, and its market capitalization has increased more than fourfold to $169 billion. This text is the inside story of the greatest turnaround in business history, and the man who made it happen. Here is an in-depth look at IBM's recovery and the man who is leading it, Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Author Doug Garr chronicles Gerstner's rise, his arrival as the first steward from outside the company's ranks, and his implementation of new business and marketing strategies. Drawn from more than 150 interviews and hundreds of pages of documents, Garr paints a portrait of the improbable transformation of this dying mainframe company into an increasingly nimble information services giant.
