Report on Lenovo by Raquel Park, Chin Park, and Patrick Kirkwood

Our visit to Lenovo was very informative and comprehensive. We were hosted by Christina Wang, the production operations director. She has been with Lenovo for ten years and was gracious enough to be present even though she was not feeling well. The overall visit began with several presentations and ended with an intriguing tour through the production plant.

As a company, Lenovo is a global leader in personal computer technology. It was founded in 1984 by 11 researchers with a $25,000 initial investment. As of March 31, 2008, Lenovo has 23,000 employees. Revenue generated in 2007 was approximately $16.4 billion. In Lenovo’s quest for global authority, they purchased the IBM personal computing division, including ThinkPad.

Currently, Lenovo has three international design plants – Yamato, Japan; Beijing, China; Raleigh, North Carolina. These plants are designed to encourage and foster new ideas, embracing many cultures to gain a competitive advantage in the international market place. Lenovo has 46 premium labs to create the best-in-class products. For example, the Yamato plant houses the ThinkPad destructive test lab, and the Beijing plant houses the design lab. Its success has also been attributed to the customer service that delivers stunning experience and efficient and responsive parts logistics.

Throughout the years, Lenovo has accomplished many noteworthy achievements. It has ranked # 1 in China for 11 years in PC market share (surpassing Compaq, HP and Dell). Market share in 2007 was approximately 28%. In March 2004, Lenovo was the first ever Chinese Olympic sponsor. In 2008, Lenovo’s corporate citizenship involved donating RMB 10 million ($1.47 million US) as well as holding a candlelight vigil for earthquake relief efforts.

Lenovo is in a position to continue growing and succeeding in the years to come. It has been very successful throughout the years with innovation, quality and value by providing customers around the world with smarter ways to be productive and competitive.