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Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 15 The IBM PC

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:32
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Abstract

The IBM PC was the first digital computer platform that was open by as a matter of strategy, not necessity. The purpose of this chapter is to understand the IBM PC as a technical system and set of organization choices in light of the theory of how technology shapes organizations. In Chapter 7, I argued that sponsors of large technical systems (including platform systems) must manage the modular structure of the system and property rights in a way that solves four inter-related problems: provide all essential functional components, solve system-wide technical bottlenecks wherever they emerge, control and protect one or more strategic bottleneck, and prevent others from gaining control of any system-wide strategic bottleneck. I use this framework to understand how IBM initially succeeded with the PC platform and then lost its position as platform sponsor in the industry it had created.

Keywords

IBM; Personal Computer; Digital Platforms; System; Strategy

Citation

Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 15 The IBM PC." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-074, January 2019.

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