Entrepreneurial Opportunity - International Business Machines Corporation - Case Study Example

Entrepreneurial Opportunity Name: University: Date: Entrepreneurial Opportunity Introduction The high technology industry as compared to the other industries is facing increased competition and an industrial environment that is rapidly changing. Basically, these industrial environmental attributes offer some new innovative insights as well as entrepreneurial opportunities, which could facilitate the companies to catch up with advancements in technology as well as react to the new needs in the market. As pointed out by Wang et al. (2013) the main entrepreneurial activity involves recognizing new opportunities and markets like the needs of the customers and also involves new product innovation. That is to say, innovation encompasses the process of identifying new market opportunities as well as generating new ideas. In entrepreneurship, the dominant theory according to Wang et al. (2013) place emphasis on the examination of the process and role of recognizing opportunities in the entrepreneurial activities. Lately, numerous studies have stressed the significance of entrepreneurship not just in encouraging new business development but also pursuing and recognizing new entrepreneurial opportunities (Wang et al., 2013). Before a person makes a decision regarding an innovation, he/she must accurately and precisely identify the “new opportunities”, or else, it could result in financial loss. Therefore, recognizing entrepreneurial opportunity recognition involves recognition, identification, and discovery of possible opportunities to develop as well as create new technology, ventures, business, and markets. A person’s ability and insights to identify profitable opportunities could facilitate him/her to exploit opportunities, which are yet to be recognized by other competitors. For that reason, innovation ability at high technology companies like IBM dwells in the ability of the employees to recognize the entrepreneurial opportunity. Using 6-stage thinking framework, this piece seeks to discuss the major problems facing IBM that should be addressed. IBM Overview The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) was established in 1911, and has five segments: Systems Hardware, Software, Global Business Services, Global Technology Services, as well as Global Financing. The system hardware segment offers infrastructure technologies to the customers with and other systems purposely designed to address speed, security, capacity, as well as the businesses’ compute power. This business unit offers solutions that seek to address end-users’ need for information compliance, archiving and retention, security, in addition to storage optimization. The Global Technology Services provides services, which include maintenance services, integrated technology services, and strategic outsourcing. On the other hand, the Global Business Services segment offers systems integration and consulting, process services as well as application management services. With the view to Software segment, involves mainly of operating systems software as well as middleware while the global financing segment involves remarketing, remanufacturing, commercial financing, and client financing. IBM faces stiff competition from other companies like Amazon, Cisco Systems, Inc, HP, Dell, Accenture, Oracle Corporation, and many others (Reuters, 2016). As of 2015, IBM had more than 370,000 employees. Problem Statement and Problem Definition At IBM, the company has for many years been unable to align its knowledge management efforts with its strategic objectives. According to Fontaine and Lesser (2002), effective programs for knowledge management normally start by managing the key business problem that the company faces. Still, IBM has failed to align its knowledge efforts with other issues pressing the company. As a result, the company has spent considerable effort and time on inconsequential projects; thus, failing to address the key needs. For instance, IBM, as mentioned by Fontaine and Lesser (2002), initiated numerous knowledge-based initiatives; however, the company did not align such efforts with the business objective, integrating a subsidiary that was recently acquired. Inexperienced to the skills and expertise in the newly acquired company, IBM lost a crucial contract which they could have won easily if it has utilised both firms’ combined knowledge. Therefore, the company lost an entrepreneurial opportunity because the IBM’s strategic goals have not been aligned with knowledge management efforts. Another problem facing IBM is the repositories creation without handling the need for managing the content. The company paid more attention to the implementation of the repositories: technologies created with the objective of capturing as well as storing written or structured knowledge. Even though such technologies has enabled IBM to store and retrieve files, installation of such systems devoid of effectively managing the associated content and cultural management issues has led to numerous problems (Fontaine & Lesser, 2002). Value Proposition Using the 6-Stage Thinking Framework Problem Observation At IBM there are some knowledge-sharing barriers at the employee level, which is attributed mainly to factors like lack of social networks, poor communication skills, national culture differences, overstressing of the position prominences, and inadequate trust and time. The knowledge -sharing barriers at the organizational level are minimal and are associated with factors like physical environment, economic feasibility, and ability to access meeting spaces. The barriers at the technology level are also minimal and are related to the factors like reluctance to utilize applications because of impractical expectations of information systems, incongruity with need specifications, as well as challenges associated with creating, including and adjusting technology-based systems (Riege, 2005). Problem Definition The main knowledge-sharing barriers at IBM originate from employees’ actions and perceptions or individual behaviour, which are associated with either groups or individuals between or in the business functions. Knowledge sharing at IBM has become challenging because the employees do not have the adequate time needed for knowledge sharing. There is also fear apprehension that sharing knowledge could jeopardize or lessen the job security of a person. Another issue attributed to low knowledge sharing at IBM is attributed to lack of awareness regarding the possessed knowledge benefit and value to other employees. Explicit knowledge is more shared as compared to tacit knowledge like experience as well as know-how, which needs interactive problem solving, practical learning, dialogue, and observation. The problem is further exacerbated by inadequate communication and feedback which are crucial for improving the organizational as well as individual learning effects. Other factors that result in the problem include; experience levels differences; age differences; poor interpersonal skills; gender differences; lack of trust; and education levels. Idea Generation In order for IBM to achieve continuous growth, the company must make sure that the knowledge-sharing practices are effectively integrated into its strategic goals and day-to-day activities. Creating a culture that promotes knowledge sharing would be a straightforward and effortless undertaking. Also, other companies in the high technology industry are facing some of the knowledge sharing barriers, which must be solved effectively in order for the companies’ overall market profitability as well as competitiveness to be improved. Eventually, IBM’s successful strategies and goals sharing have to be centered on the culture of knowledge sharing and rely on stimulating, motivating, and encouraging employees to decisively capture and apply newly generated and existing valuable knowledge, particularly tacit knowledge. The knowledge sharing problem can also be solved through mentoring programs and communities of practice. Idea Synthesis For IBM to continue being successful, it must understand that substantial learning happens when employees try to collectively solve their problems every day. According to Fontaine and Lesser (2002), this can be achieved by utilizing as well as supporting communities of practice. Employees are brought together by such communities to share tools and documents, ask questions, as well as offer a platform where people can learn from others’ experiences. For instance, face-to-face meetings can allow employees to post questions and answers regarding various problems. Without a doubt, communities of practice will enable IBM’s employees to swiftly address their everyday work-related problems such as communication issues. Mentoring is also another idea that could be used to solve the problem. Although it is not new at IBM, mentoring could facilitate the transfer of tacit knowledge related to working in a complex environment. Mentoring programs according to Fontaine and Lesser (2002) may enable the help junior personnel to effectively comprehend the informal guidelines and rules at the organization. It also improves the satisfaction level of the senior staffs, especially those acknowledged for their insights and experience. In addition, IBM should focus its knowledge management efforts in the boundaries of the organization. Idea Evaluation Clearly, knowledge sharing cannot be valuable to IBM if people that need the knowledge cannot receive as well as apply it. There is no clear strategy for knowledge management that could work effectively for every company and it is not easy to introduce a knowledge-sharing practices’ to-do list which could guarantee success. Therefore, IBM should make sure employees get the right knowledge at the right time. Creating a culture of knowledge sharing would need IBM to invest heavily. Given that the company already has an informal and formal sharing networks, IBM should expand and build these existing networks. When knowledge-sharing practices are effective, IBM can achieve sustainable competitive advantage which cannot be imitated easily by the market rivals. More importantly, the company should invest in improving its employees’ ability to recognize entrepreneurial opportunity through training and education. Training can enable the employees to prepare their minds as well as improve their ability to detect and identify potential entrepreneurial opportunities. Solution Implementation In order to implement the suggested solutions, IBM should first plan and prepare, monitor the action, and review the success of the action. The success of the solution implementation depends on IBM ability to plan and prepare the needs that would guarantee success. This can be achieved by creating an action plan, scheduling the actions, determining the needed resources, managing the action, and reviewing the plan. Importantly, IBM requires plans that are more complex and flexible such as a flow chart or chain diagram. These diagrams would enable IBM to arrange the actions in order to effectively utilize resources such as time. While coming up with an implementation schedule, it is imperative for IBM to refrain from being over ambitious. They would need additional time is so that unforeseen obstacles and delays are accommodated, especially with actions that can be completed punctually. Value Proposition IBM’s products are utilised by various enterprises and the company is considered as the leading provider of the e-commerce solution. IBM products provide a next-generation solution nearly all company’s technological needs. From a fully integrated network to a simple online store, IBM products could be utilised by all companies’ touch points and business models. For instance, the WebSphere Commerce, a solution produced by IBM enables enable different types of companies to allow their customers do online business. The solution supports commerce sites and business models of different companies on a single software instance as well as its related infrastructure. Furthermore, it leverages the middleware platform in the industry for endwise integration throughout the value chain. Financial sources and Stakeholder Analysis The company sources its finance from its products, especially IBM services, software, and hardware. The client financing assets include the equipment operating leases, direct financing, and primary sales, and also loans for services, software, and hardware. The client loans are normally unsecured but are often subjected to further credit analysis with the objective of mitigating the related risk. Basically, the receivables from commercial financing are primarily attributed to accounts and inventory receivable financing for IBM’s marketers and dealers. Considering that IBM is a large global company, it has many stakeholders with different interests. IBM’s consultants are the critical asset. Other stakeholders include employees, customers, the community where the company operates, suppliers and the government. Conclusion In conclusion, this piece has discussed the major problems facing IBM that should be addressed. As mentioned in the paper, it is imperative to recognize the significance of social networks through the creation of relationships with others people who can share knowledge and recognize entrepreneurial opportunities. Importantly, engaging the competitors, suppliers, customers, as well as researchers can enable IBM to create respective networks could facilitate knowledge sharing, which consequently could facilitate recognition of entrepreneurial opportunity. At IBM, leaders together with managers could motivate their employees to share expertise as well as knowledge amongst themselves. As suggested above, it could be suitable for IBM to create communities of practice in order to improve the practice of social networking that could effectively promote information exchange and cooperation. More importantly, creating organizational contexts which allow employees and teams achieve and embrace new entrepreneurial information could be a crucial task for IBM’s leaders and managers. References Fontaine, M., & Lesser, E. (2002). Challenges in managing organizational knowledge. Somers, NY: IBM Institute for Knowledge-Based Organizations. Reuters. (2016). International Business Machines Corp (IBM). Retrieved from Reuters: www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=IBM Riege, A. (. (2005). Three-dozen knowledge-sharing barriers managers must consider. Journal of Knowledge Management, 9(3), 18-35. Wang, Y.-L., Ellinger, A. D., & Wu, Y.-C. J. (2013). Entrepreneurial opportunity recognition: an empirical study of R&D personnel. Management Decision, 51(2), 248-266. Read More