Chapter 7 Business Marketing

IBM has an agreement (relationship commitment) with Lenovo. The agreement allows IBM to provide end-to-end solutions to their clients. Lenovo is the preferred provider of IBM-branded personal computers.

Business Marketing is "the marketing goods & services to individuals & organizations for purposes other then personal consumption."
Lenovo has the one of the fastest growing markets in the world, They supply IBM with the supplies needed to make their leading PCs & Think-pads. Together IBM and Lenovo team up to sell their products to sale representatives so it can be sold to the general public later at computer stores all around the world.

"IBM's strategy is clear. Lenovo's strategy is clear. Together we're a powerful."

Chapt 8 Segmenting & Targeting Markets

Market Segmentation? It's the "process of dividing the a market into meaningful relatively similar and Identifiable segments or groups"...

Big companies use Market segmentation to help them with their target market's needs and wants. When IBM first started in 1910 all they made were keypunchers and verifiers; Until 1952 when Thomas Watson Jr. became president of IBM & decided it was time to open a market for electronics. Watson, Sr. had repeatedly rejected electronic computers as overpriced and unreliable, except for one-of-a-kind projects such as the IBM SSEC. Thomas Jr. took the company in a new direction, hiring hundreds of electrical engineers he put them to work designing mainframe computers. Many of IBM's technical experts also didn't think computer products were practical, since there were only about a dozen computers in the entire world at the time.
Since 1911 IBM has been dedicated to making "Machines" for "Businesses" from the first hole punchers to the later innovated electronic hole puncher. Now IBM still offers to large companies with Software, Servers and storage; But its also working towards making a 'Smarter Planet' to help the world use its resources more efficiently. Its already begun in Europe.

As you can see Target Markets and Segmenting are like Peanut butter & Jelly, They go perfect together... Cant have one without the other. The target market tells the company who, what their aiming for. In IBM's case it would be based on Social Class. Segmenting allows the company to break it down more specifically into narrower groups like the demographics within that social class.

Chapter 11 Developing & Managing Products

Its said that the 'average fast moving consumer goods company introduce 70-80 new products a year'.
IBM has multiple products that range from small businesses to Business partners. Then it spans out to retail store products to personal computer and printing products and of course IBM software products.
On January 15,2012 IBM will release:

• "IBM Lotus Software that delivers robust collaboration software that empowers people to connect, collaborate, and innovate while optimizing the way they work. Lotus is intended for better business outcomes through smarter collaboration.
• Lotusphere 2012 shows you how to raise your social skills and how to sharpen your technical ones with:
• Technology sessions covering practical tips and tricks to kick your skill set up to the next level
• Business-oriented sessions focused on best practices and results
• A Solutions Showcase featuring real-world solutions from our IBM Business Partners and IBM colleagues
• Access to IBM strategists, product experts, engineers, architects, and developers

• The opportunity to share the wisdom of the crowds from your own social circles of colleagues and partners" http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/events/conference/

Lotus is IBMs product of making Business transaction/ Communications quicker & understandable with features that allow you to connect in real-time. Like Facebook/Twitter/Gmail all rolled into one. With features that allow people to connect & share their work with no outside distractions from 'friend request' and constant tweets.

Extra Post

There are some companies that go all out during the holidays to intrigue their consumers and get them to spend. Other companies don't even bother with the seasonal craze that fall into 'American Tradition'; Like black Friday, Christmas shopping, Hanukkah, Kwanza etc. 
IBM doesn't have Holidays sale, or Specials. This is most likely due to the fact that IBM sells to giant companies and business means business no matter how it's sugar coated. It does offer "IBM Coremetrics Benchmark" which gives consumers the trend data they need to succeed this Holiday Sales Season for cyber Monday.
http://www.coremetrics.com/holiday2011/index.php
http://www.coremetrics.com/

Chapter 16 Intergrated Marketing Communications

You may ask yourself what's Marketing Communications?
In simple words... It's how a company reaches out to it's consumer. Companies like to hear feedback from consumers so they add phone numbers or websites so that consumers can express they're thoughts & ideas to the company.
There's a ton of different ways for companies to reach out to consumers. IBM communicates through Mass Communications. IBM has multiple facebook pages one of them "IBM Smarter Commerce" Designed to 'help companies better manage their entire commerce value chain through a customer-centered approach that increases revenue and loyalty'. http://www.facebook.com/ibmsmartercommerce By liking the page suggestions and ideas are posted up by IBM.

IBM also connects through 'Encoding' meaning the "senders idea & thoughts into a message in form of word & signs." In this picture IBM just has 2 objects and a letter when read its 'eye-bee-m'. It's clever and somewhat entertaining.
There's a lot more ways companies communicate with their 'Audience' & I'm sure more then half the time we don't even realize what the companies are trying to do, or influence.

Chapt 10 Product Concepts

Fifty years ago IBM introduced the Model B Standard and Model B Executive Typewriters.

IBMs line of products is very wide ranging from Keypunchers back in 1910 to the Watson in present day. Of course IBM sales 'business Products' which means they manufacture new goods & services to sell. Since IBM is over 100 years old they have obviously extended their product line. IBM has had a hand in typewriters between 1935 and 1977.

Fast forward... and IBM has the Watson... the Smart computer a computer designed to give precise answers to questions. Watson competed against Jeopardy players and won. Watson has four terabytes of disk storage, including the full text of Wikipedia. Watson wasn't connected to the Internet during the game. Throughout time IBM has created a simple product, then had it reinvented and made it better and continues to do so. Currently IBM is working on a Smarter Planet Project to make the world more efficient.

Chapt 18 Sales promotion & Personal Selling

In order to give their companies an edge companies like to give promotions to their costumers sometimes it seems small sometimes not so much. IBM can be considered as one of those companies that has TONS of respect but just isn't in the market for the average everyday consumer. Here I quote IBM for one of it's promotions "For a limited time only, for approximately $25,000, you can acquire a fixed configuration that includes:

• two (2) eligible new IBM Real-time Compression Appliance STN6500s,
• two (2) eligible new IBM Real-time Compression Software licenses that each support 25 terabytes of data storage, and
• two (2) 1-year Software Maintenance registrations for the IBM Real-time Compression Software licenses.

In order to qualify, all components of the configuration must be acquired as part of a single transaction, and appear on a single order submitted to IBM. This represents a 79% savings off standard prices."

Underlined in the promotion states that what your about to buy cost $25,000... Bravo for being upfront about it most companies just give you a percentage discount. It also states that you only get a 79% discount if you buy it all at once, Like a bundle. Now the promotion says it'll reduce capacity of your system by 50%-80% while maintaining high performance. IBM does market to Banks & big Corps.that need mainframes etc. and it's understandable why a product would be $25,000.


Now for the average consumer IBM teamed up with Lenevo to provide full costumer service & support to their clients with Thinkpads & Desktops. A Lenovo ThinkPad X201 Tablet 2985 - Core i7 2.13 GHz - 12.1″ - 4 GB Ram - 320 GB HDD cost about $1900.

Chapt 17 Advertisement & Public Relations

Companies spend millions maybe even billions to advertise. When the economy got tough after 2008 consumers got smarter; The IBM Global Business Services report, “The End of Advertising as We Know It.”

 IBM analyzed how much advertising for different categories have increased throughout the years. It's amazing how much effort and money companies put into shoving unneeded propaganda in consumers faces. The graph also shows how modern tech like the internet & mobile ads are used to grab the attention of everyone/ anyone with a smartphone/or a phone with internet.
Advertisers lose a lot of consumers due to all the new toys consumers have like DVR/ Tivo that allow you to skip commercials or Online shows that give less then 10mins of commercials compared to watching t.v for an hour with 20mins of commercials alone.

*For more info/ facts: http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/ibm-end-of-advertising-as-we-know-it-2329/ibm-end-of-advertising-as-we-know-it-global-ad-spend-growth-by-mediumjpg/

Chapter 15 Retailing

Nowadays everyone's on the GO-GO. They want to be somewhere faster. Shorter lines. IBM seen as a specialty store, which in definition means that it has high service & prices moderate from average to expensive.
IBM retails to a lot of different consumers. IBM has been working on a smarter self checkout called IBMs 'Self Checkout System 6.' Its seen as "a modular self checkout system that can make checkout smarter for both the shopper and the retailer." Any business with a booming amount of costumers and long lines would consider investing in the checkout. Self checkouts have slowly put employees out of work and many consumers don't like it because they simply don't understand it. Giant businesses like Target, BJs, have invested in self checkout machines through-out the years. Personally I like self checkouts they're probably not meant for the consumer who has a cart full of merchandise, but it is for that consumer that walks in and just has a couple things and doesn't want to wait 45mins on line to purchase a T-shirt and jeans. A self checkout machine is just convenient.
IBM also has a line of POS (Point of Sales) machines used by retailers. A POS terminal manages the selling process by a salesperson accessible interface. The same system allows the creation and printing of the receipt.

Chapt 6 Consumer Decision Making

What makes a consumer choose a product from another? Espicially when theres so many to choose from? Well deciding is a 5 step process with the consumer. 
1. Recognition
2. Information Research
3.Evaluation of Alternative products
4.Purchase
5. Post-purchase behavior
Aside from that the consumer has to identify the difference between Needs and Wants and then they fall into habits depending on what they're purchasing.

IBM has been around for so long that consumers trust it. Everyone has a techy friend that loves computers and own every new item that comes out on the market. I ask Randy, a friend what he thought of IBM. He replied with "IBM makes long lasting laptops I mean I still have mine when I was learning how to fix them and It still works [laughs]." Randy is 21.

IBM admires itself on its trust, values and changing the world with its innovation. For some that may not be enough to purchase IBM products but for most it is. I mean how many companies can say they've been a part of sending the first man to the moon.

Chapt 5 Developing A Global Vision

Global Marketing can be seen good & bad. Guess it depends on who's prospective your looking at it from. Most b usinesses perfer going over seize for cheap labor. In the Textbook IBM is marked #2 in best global brands. Being that IBM has been around for a 100 years it has had the opportunity to grow and aspire in the market. When IBM started there wasnt such a thing as Global Marketing; Your employees were Americans but when Global Marketing became the new thing they expanded BIG. IBM literally has an office almost everywhere around the globe, from Afghanistan to Zambia. In one perspective IBM has basically helped a little of everyone around the world to aspire, and has created jobs and opporunities for a lot of people.

Job growth worldwide

IBM has a new vision/Idea for the world : "Smarter Cities for Smarter Growths" the idea behind this is that each city can "optimize their systems for a talent-based economy". Updating the systems that only really calculate how much is owed and used can allow the city to use Instrumentation that enables cities to gather more high-quality data in less time than ever before. Like, utility meters and sensors that monitor the capacity of the power generation network can be used to continually gather data on supply and demand of electricity, The low cost of existing devices and sensors, like gas, electricity and water meters, offer the ability to measure, sense and understand the exact condition of virtually anything. Added new sensors and devices that offer further data gathering possibilities. This can improve library services to maintain sewerage systems.http://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/en/gbe03248usen/GBE03248USEN.PDF

3 ways we can make our cities smarter

The plan would allow cities to better plan for future events and prepare better. The best part of the plan is that it can work anywhere around the world considering all large cities really don't have that many differences except for  locations and how much they actually consume.

Chapt 4 Market Enviorment

Marketing Environment: Refers to all of the forces outside of marketing that affect marketing management’s ability to build and maintain successful relationships with target customers. The market environment consists of both the macro-environment and the micro-environment. In short words its how businesses keep up with the unexpected turns that can't be controlled. From inflation,  to America's increase in Hispanics over the next 30 years. Companies have to try to keep ahead of the game, Including Innovated  corporations. IBM ranks in the top ten most innovative companies.

Craig Hayman, General Manager of Industry Solutions at IBM Software, talks about IBM’s study “The State of Marketing 2011,” The survey shows that while technology is booming; from email to social networks and mobile media  has opened up many more possibilities for communicating with customers, it has also led to confusion and information overload for the costumer. "Marketers need better analytic tools to turn data into action overall and particularly in social media for which being there simply isn’t enough to win friends and drive business results".

 In 2005 IBM prepared itself for new consulting services to help organizations prepare for the potential loss of highly valued skills and knowledge as the baby-boom generation reached retirement age. "The aging population will be one of the major social and business issues of the 21st Century, and companies worldwide are starting to examine what this means in terms of skills, knowledge, and growth" said Mary Sue Rogers, global leader, IBM Business Consulting Services. At that time it was estimated that by 2010, the number of workers between ages 45-54 would grow by 21 percent, the number of 55-64 year old would expand by 52 percent, and the number of 35-44 year old would decline by 10 percent.Even though it is said that Generation Y that ranges from people born from 1979 to 1994 was suppose to be smaller then the baby boomer cohort (Pg42 of MRKTG5) but it surpassed due to immigration.
The prime rule of marketing is that everyone's a target for their business: Big, small, Old, infants... IBM doesn't really market to infants but it does target widely.

In April 2011 IBM developed a tiny bug that shows promise as a weapon against dangerous super-bugs that have become resistant to antibiotics. In this day and age EVERYONE worries about their health. The tiny bug is remarkable and if it succedes it will open doors to a whole new way of medicine.
*WSJ video of tiny bug*
http://online.wsj.com/video/digits-ibm-takes-on-superbugs/80368EFA-679D-4DE2-B13F-4BB70DE264D6.html

Chap.3 Ethics & Social Responsibility

2/7/2011 Ranked #1

Any company has ethics and social responsibility, After all they are the untold rules that everyone usually go by.                   

 Top 500 Green Companies IBM ranked #3

 On February 7.2011 IBM was ranked one of the companies with the most ethical reputations. Companies were evaluated on waste management, products’ social utility, labor standards and human rights policy. The data aquired went back from 2002 to December 2010. It was also ranked third in the newsweeks' and eighth in Greenpeace.

These are some of IBM's ethics on privacy:
Fairness:
IBM collects and process' personal information fairly and lawfully;  
Accuracy:
IBM will keep personal information as accurate, complete and up-to-date as is necessary for the purpose for which it is processed.  
Disclosure:
IBM will make personal information available inside or outside IBM only in appropriate circumstances.  

Security:
IBM will implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to safeguard personal information and instruct third parties processing personal information on behalf of IBM, if any, to process it only in a manner that is consistent with processing it on IBM's behalf, and to implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to safeguard the personal information.  
Access:
IBM will provide individuals with appropriate access to personal information about them.

The other privacy policies*http://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/policy7.shtml 

IBM is global and also has ethics oversea http://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/policy11.shtml
IBM Environmental Affairs: http://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/policy9.shtml
IBM ranked #1 Overall http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/02/07/ibm-intel-pepsi-top-ethics-rankings/
IBM Ranked #3http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/10/18/dell-hp-ibm-jj-intel-top-newsweeks-green-rankings/
GreenPeace Ranked #7http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/12/08/oracle-makes-dismal-debut-in-greenpeace-it-rankings/?graph=full&id=1

Chapter 2 Strategic Planning

On June 16, 2011 IBM turned 100 Years old.
IBM has been around since the the 19th century and is known for it's Innovations in technology through out the years from IBM's punch card machine that could multiply. To the first magnetic hard drive disk. To the "Watson" supercomputer. IBM has seen technology sore in America and has been there every step of the way. It's clear that IBM has had a good strategic plan; 100 years later it has been able to protect and grow it's resources. IBM continues to refresh itself over and over again to keep up with the times and needs of society.

IBM can be seen as a societal marketing orientated business: It not only "satisfies the costumer but also enhances individual's and societies long term best interest." IBM has made life a little easier for everyone in the 21st Century.

History/ Mission Statement

 IBM examined its Core Values last year for the first time since the company was founded in 1911. It brought together '319,000 IBMers from around the world to engage in an open "values jam"'discussion to let costumers decide IBM's value and promises to the client. In the end the IBMers decided that IBMs actions would be defined by three values :

• Dedication to every client's success
• Innovation that matters, for our company and for the world
• Trust and personal responsibility in all relationships   

http://www.ibm.com/ibm/values/us/
  A merger of three 19th-century companies; the Tabulating Machine Company, the International Time Recording Company and the Computing Scale Company of America all became the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) on June 16, 1911. CTR was just the beginning of what later would become IBM. In 1914 Thomas J. Watson Sr. joined CTR and over the next twenty years transformed CTR into a growing leader of innovation and technology and a prototype for the newly emergent multinational corporation. This shift is signaled in 1924, when the company’s name changes to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). 

  From the beginning, IBM defines itself not by the market which range from commercial scales to punch card tabulators—but by forward-thinking culture and management practices grounded in core values. By believing in its vision and values throughout the Depression IBM was able to provide employment, even add engineers and other staff in order to sustain its production output.

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/interactive/index.html#/EarlyAmbitions