Lenovo-IBM: Bridging Cultures, Languages, and Time Zones Becoming a Global Player (C)

This case completes the trilogy and attempts to answer the open questions raised in the A and B Cases. It offers a retrospective of the events since the IBM-Lenovo merger in 2005 until August 2012. The main focus is on the period between the global financial crisis and mid-2012. The case describes the frequent changes at the top management level and highlights the leadership issues involved in making Lenovo a global leader in the PC industry. An industry and market overview reveals that while Lenovo was attempting to deal with internal issues during the post-merger integration phase it lost market share to competitors. A series of strategic changes, organizational restructurings, and changes in organizational culture paved the way for a new era in Lenovo's history, marked by strong financial performance, product innovation, and promising growth.