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1. Dear students get fully solved assignments
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ASSIGNMENT FOR INDEPENDENT STUDY – I
Program Executive MBA
Title Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? [ISBN 978-0-00-730295-6; Harper
Collins Publishers]
Author Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Answer all questions
Question. 1. In April 1993, Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. joined IBM as
the CEO at a time when the company was bleeding with problems
like falling revenues in its mainframe business, loss of customer
trust, falling brand image, and huge employee turnover. Briefly
discuss the short-term and long term measures taken by Gerstner
and his leadership team to deal with these problems and achieve
the company’s turnaround.
Answer:
Steps taken to achieve company’s Turnaround :
1. Gerstnerbelievedthatthe keyto fixing IBM’s problem was “All about execution”. Gerstner
decidedtoanalyze the behaviourof company’semployeesandcustomersandapplyhisown
interpretationof the company’sinherentstrength.Indoingsohe turnedthe businessof IBM
around from the brink of bankruptcy. At the end of Gerstner’s reign as the Chairman and
CEO, the company employed
Question. 2. According to Gerstner, “A company’s initial culture is
usually determined by its founder’s mindset – that person’s values,
beliefs, preferences, and also idiosyncrasies. … In IBM’s case, that
was Thomas J. Watson, Sr.” Critically analyze the steps taken by

2. Gerstner to transform IBM’s culture to meet the demands of the
business environment of the 1990s by radically improving the
collective capacity of IBM employees to create value.
Answer: Critically analysis of steps taken by Gerstner:
1..IBM’s people were one of the Gerstner’s targets for change. At IBM, employee aren’t just not
resourcesbutthe mainrevenue generator.Anorganizationcanbe termedasa collective capacity of
its employees to create value for itself and customer. Gerstner’s most important accomplishment
was to establish a culture that brought employees of IBM closer to its customers. This was
formulated by inspiring employees to be
Question. 3. In September 1993, Gerstner communicated a set
of eight principles to all IBM employees worldwide, with the
thought that those principles would be the underpinnings of IBM’s
new culture for the rest of his tenure. Comment on the relevance
(high / medium / low) of each of these eight principles to IBM’s
success in the next two decades (2011 – 2030). Also, given the
macro-environment of the global technology business in the 21st
century, if you were to add two more principles to this list, what
would they be? Why?
Answer: Eight principles suggested by Gerstner:
1. The marketplace is the driving force behind everything we do.
Under this principle IBM took vow to focus on serving customers and, in the process, beating the
competition.
1.
2.
Question. 4. “If one were to reduce the story of IBM’s transformation over the past
decade to the bare essentials, the saga would pivot on two big bets: one on the industry’s
direction, and one on IBM’s own strategy.” – Gerstner. In your opinion, how successful has IBM
been in executing these bets. Explain.
Answer:
IBM has been really successful in executing these plans.
If you go back about a quarter of a century, IBMwas at the pinnacle of success. Over the previous
twodecadeswe had practically invented general-purpose computing for business. We had helped
put a man on the moon. Our

3. Question 5. ‘Great institutions are not managed; they are led.’ -
Discuss with examples from Indian businesses.
Answer: Great institutions are not managed; they are led.
The difference betweenleadershipandmanagementisall aboutpeopleandgettingthe very best of
them.Great leadershipelicitsanemotional response from your team members. Of course they are
not workingforfree.Theyare beingcompensatedfortheirtime andefforts.Yetinspiredemployees
can create extraordinaryresults.Leadershipunitesyourteam members toward a common goal that
is greater than the sum of each team
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