Roy Zuniga

Review of IBM Costa Rica

The company was founded in 1911 as the Computing T...

The company was founded in 1911 as the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation, the result of the merger of four companies: Tabulating Machine Company, International Time Recording Company, Computing Scale Corporation, and Bundy Manufacturing Company. [3] [4] CTR adopted the named International Business Machines in 1924, using a name previously designated to a CTR affiliate in Canada, and later in South America.
In 2011, Fortune magazine ranked IBM # 18 in the United States in size, [5] and # 7 in profits. [6] Globally, the company was ranked # 31 in size. by Forbes in 2011. [7] [8] By the number of employees (more than 425,000) it is the second largest company in the world, surpassed only by Walmart (in more than 200 countries, with occupations including scientists, engineers, consultants and sales professionals). [9]
IBM houses more patents than any other US technology company, and has twelve research laboratories. [10] Called "IBMists," its employees have received five Nobel Prizes, four Turing Awards, nine National Medals of Technology, and five National Medals of Science. [11] IBM's famous inventions include the ATM, floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic stripe, relational model, UPC barcode format, SABER air booking system, memory Dynamic RAM and the Watson artificial intelligence system.

Thomas John Watson, the leader of IBM from 1914 to 1956.

Starting in the 19th century, various technologies were developed that would form part of IBM's predecessor companies. Julius E. Pitrap patented the computing scale in 1885; [12] Alexander Dey invented the recording dial in 1888; [13] and in 1889, Herman Hollerith patented the "Electric Tabulating Machine" ) [14] and Willard Bundy invented a time clock to record employee arrival and departure times on paper tape. [15] On June 16, 1911, these technologies and their respective companies were merged by Charles Ranlett Flint to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR). [16] The company, located in New York City, had 1,300 employees, as well as offices and plants in Endicott and Binghamton, New York; Dayton, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Washington D.C., and Toronto, Ontario. CTR initially manufactured and sold a wide range of machinery, from commercial scales and industrial employee control systems to automated meat and cheese slicers. They also manufactured tabulators and punch card management equipment, which would be a key element of future computers. Over time, CTR would focus on these teams, leaving the manufacturing of the rest of its products aside.
Flint recruited Thomas John Watson of the National Cash Register Company to help run the business in 1914. [16] Watson implemented "generous sales incentives, a focus on customer service, an emphasis on well-groomed salespeople with dark suits, and an evangelical fervor to instill business pride and corporate loyalty in every employee. "[17] His favorite catchphrase," Think, Reflect, "became a mantra for CTR employees. Eleven months after joining the company, Watson became its president. [17] The company focused on providing tabulation solutions for companies, leaving the small product market to others. During the first four years later with Watson at CTR, the company's revenue more than doubled to $ 9,000,000, and its operations expanded to Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia. [17] February 1924, CTR was renamed the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), [18] citing the need to align its name with "the growth and expansion of its activities."