Business in Times of Disruption: IBM as a Case Study, 1929-1954
This paper explores how the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) responded to major disruptions in the market system brought by depression in the 1930s and then war in the 1940s and '50s. (The paper grows out of research that I have done earlier on the history of IBM during the 1930's through the 1960s, which led to the publication of two scholarly articles, one of which was focused on IBM and the business-government relationship and another on IBM's distinctive social contract with its employees.) IBM is an appropriate choice for a case study on how business functions in times of disruption because it was a leading multinational firm during the years discussed, with an unusually broad perspective on the challenges posed by the genuinely global disruptions created by the Great Depression, World War II and the Cold War. IBM also works well as a case study due to the continuity in its senior management during those turbulent times. The company was led throughout them by the same CEO, Thomas J. Watson, Sr., who was the dominant figure in the firm then. Watson was also a very cosmopolitan figure within American business circles who thought and acted very much in accordance with a big picture view of events at home and abroad. IBM's experience during times of disruption is also interesting because the firm ultimately did so well in adapting to unforeseen events. On the eve of the Great Depression, IBM was still a small company facing an uncertain future, but by the end of the Korean War it had become a corporate colossus. Its experience thus offers some useful insights into how times of disruption can furnish astutely led businesses with opportunities for growth.
