Performance, in the context of an organization, is not only a concept synonym with productivity, but, it has also been a subject of study by human resource management (HRM) theorists. It has been accepted that human resource strategies can influence the economic performance of a company.
It is in this context that the present study will try to show the means through which, in a permanently evolving environment, characteristic for the knowledge-based economy, an IT company made history. IBM, as the majority of the IT companies in the 1980’s and 1990’s, had its ups and downs, but with the skills of a visionary CEO, it managed to revive. Therefore, two strategic paths emerge in discussing an IBM’s evolution: financial performance and human resource strategies
In order to attain this objective, and observe the evolution for the two directions mentioned above, a financial analysis enables a better understanding of the situation, by focusing on a longitudinal time series study – highlighting the periods when change has taken place, between 1990 and 2006, paying special attention to the years 1993 and 2002 and to the factors which influenced the progress and development of the company.
In the company’s financial statements, management discussions or reports of independence registered public accounting firms, various approaches can be seen, explaining the financial results. Also, hundreds of papers were published in various journals, using marketing, management or statistical approaches. However, none of these studies uses econometrics approach. Therefore, in order to measure the impact of global strategies, strategic business units, and policy changes strategies on IBM’s financial performance, an econometrics model was first built by Shih and Plescan. The empirical results show statistically significant differences, making the findings highly relevant.

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