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The Quest for Global Solutions

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houses succeeded because they tapped into an unmet customer need (for serious exchange) and sold an experience (social, economic and intellectual stimulation), not just a rush of coffee. Yet, making the transition from selling commodities to selling services or experiences is not easy. Even for companies that succeed, it can prove a surprisingly arduous journey. Take the classic case of IBM. 4 In the space of two decades, IBM

has evolved from a seller of mainframe and personal computers to a provider of IT-related solutions, designed to help companies meet their business objectives.

The shift to selling solutions is not for the fainthearted.

Today, more than half of IBM’s workforce is in the services business as opposed to selling hardware or software. But leading this transformation from products to global solutions has required some major strategic and psychological adjustments. Professor John Weeks notes, “IBM’s leaders had to acquire service firms whose employees then had to be integrated into Big Blue’s famously insular culture. They also had to implement painful cuts in IBM’s US workforce and drive a dramatic change in mindset because the service arm could not compete if it proposed only IBM products.”

The original coffee house experience