Strategic Leadership / Business Capital
Strategic Leadership
Virginia Rometty is the CEO and Chairperson of IBM since 2012. She has heralded the move of the company from just dealing with computing hardware to software and data services. Popularly known as Ginni, Mrs. Rometty has directed the company into becoming a leader in the development of Artificial Intelligence. Watson is its flagship AI product. She has worked in the company in various capacities since 1981. Rometty has succeeded and excelled in an industry that is not very friendly to women. Indeed, the tech sector has very few women in influential positions. She joined the company when it was primarily involved in the manufacture of computing hardware (Kuehner-Hebert, 2016). She has been actively involved in the evolution of the company from just dealing with hardware to having software and services constitute 90 percent of its business.
Mrs. Rometty studied Computer Science and Electronic engineering at Northwestern University and graduated in 1979. She joined the company that she is leading two years later. The knowledge she has gathered in the many years she has worked in the company has earned her the experience needed to strategically plan and ensure the continued relevance of the company in the future. Her most noteworthy accomplishment is causing a turnaround in the sales of the company by introducing new business based on the latest developments in the tech sector (Kuehner-Hebert, 2016). Modern computing is no longer just reliant on the hardware. Instead, it is leaning more towards cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and big data services. Rometty has diversified the business of IBM to include such components and market them using the already recognized brand of the company.
Business Capital
When starting a new business, it is essential to have enough capital to keep the business going before revenues are raked in to facilitate the continuation of the company. There are several ways in which one can get business capital. Some sources of capital are relatively easy to come by while others involve a complicated process that makes many of the entrepreneurs in need give up (Everett & Casparie, 2018). The most preferred way of raising capital is the entrepreneur’s savings. The advantage of using savings is that there is no interest accrued and the business at this moment does not owe external creditors. If an entrepreneur has enough financial reserves to keep the business going till it can sustain itself, then using personal savings is the best option.
Entrepreneurs often do not have enough savings to start their business. The next possible source of capital should be family and friends. Family and friends are usually the first customers of a new business. They also form an excellent source of networking to popularize the business through word of mouth. In addition to the free marketing of the small business, family and friends can fund the business. The advantage of this capital is that it has more relaxed terms and the interest charged is minimal or none at all. If the business centers around innovation that will change the lives of people significantly, then it is advisable to use crowdfunding to get the required startup capital. Another possible source of capital is the use of angel investors (Everett & Casparie, 2018). These investors inject capital into the business provided that they will be compensated with equity in the company.
References
Everett, C., & Casparie, J. (2018). Equity Investment by Startup Board Members Can Attract New Capital. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3215424
Kuehner-Hebert, K. (2016). How CEO Ginni Rometty Is Reshaping IBM. Retrieved from https://chiefexecutive.net/ceo-ginni-rometty-reshaping-ibm/