GIAI ĐOẠN 1983-1992CEO: Charles E.

GIAI ĐOẠN 1983-1992
CEO: Charles E. Exley, Jr.
Charles E. Exley, Jr. was the President (1976–1988), Chairman (1984–1992), and CEO (1983–1993) of NCR Corporation.
1991
- NCR acquired by AT&T
- NCR purchased Teradata Corporation, acquiring its advanced and unique commercial parallel processing technology. NCR Teradata becomes the world’s most proven and powerful database for data warehousing.
NCR Corporation
In 1983 Exley was named chief executive officer, and in the following year he became board chairman. Under his leadership, NCR underwent a corporate restructuring process, made a push back into personal computers, began reemphasizing fiscal control, and started a long-term plan of repurchasing its own stock. The Tower family of microcomputers, which was introduced in 1982, became one of the keys to NCR's success in the mid-1980s. By 1986 the company was again posting double-digit increases, while most of the computer industry was suffering from a market recession.
NCR's revenues had grown to $6 billion by 1988, as the company developed customized products that generated significant indirect sales. Meanwhile NCR's microelectronics division became a leading producer of semiconductors, and the company surpassed IBM as the largest worldwide supplier of automatic teller machines (ATMs). Personal computers and the Tower microcomputers also saw significant sales gains in the emphasis switch from mainframes to distribution processing.
In 1988 Gilbert P. Williamson was promoted from executive vice-president to president, while Exley remained chairman and CEO. The following year overall sales began to dip, although foreign sales were rising. The company closed out the decade as the last thriving member of the BUNCH that had avoided a merger or sellout of interests.
NCR expected to keep its products on par with the computer industry's powerhouses. In late 1989 it announced that it was jumping into the market for microcomputers that were based on a powerful new microchip. The announcement helped NCR land an agreement with Businessland, Inc. to begin selling the new line in 1990.
According to Exley, NCR entered the 1990s with a goal to "reach all markets." The company had operations in nine countries, with products sold in more than 120 countries. NCR expected continued success in the ATM and semiconductor markets and expanded sales in technology and information processing markets. The company also expected indirect sales to increase, with a number of NCR-manufactured products being sold bearing other companies' labels.
NCR looked for benefits from the implementation of "concurrent engineering," to keep its operations on a par with Japanese competitors through a more timely and less costly manufacture of products. Concurrent engineering eliminated a number of independent steps of production, some of which had been contracted out, and replaced that system with one in which design engineers and manufacturing personnel collaborated in a closer working environment, thereby reducing the time needed to correct glitches. NCR had introduced concurrent engineering in 1987 in its new Atlanta, Georgia plant, and by the 1990s the concept was implemented to some degree in all of NCR's manufacturing facilities.
The 1990s started with great promise for NCR. As the result of an April agreement with California-based Teradata Corporation to develop parallel-processing computer technologies, NCR received 1.4 million shares of Teradata stock. In May the J.C. Penneyretail chain announced that it would buy $45 million worth of workstation systems from NCR; two months later, NCR negotiated a $10 million contract to automate the branch offices of the Fleet Norstar Financial Group.
Hostile Takeover by AT&T in 1991
Then NCR ran into a formidable adversary, the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T). Seeking to bolster its failing computer division, AT&T issued a bid for NCR in December 1990, placing the purchase price at $90 a share, or $6.1 billion. The bid was met with instant hostility by NCR and over the next five months the tug-of-war was played out in the media. NCR Chairman Charles Exley publicly expressed his disdain at the thought of helping AT&T become profitable in the computer field and vowed to quit if the takeover were successful. AT&T countered with a proxy fight to unseat the NCR board of directors. Both sides hired high-powered advisers--takeover lawyer Martin Lipton and Chemical Bank for AT&T, and investment bankers Goldman-Sachs for NCR.
NCR fought hard by taking out full-page newspaper advertisements to turn public opinion its way and by asking the FCC to investigate AT&T's bid. In the end, AT&T agreed to pay the $110 per share, or $7.4 billion, that NCR was demanding, stipulating, however, that payment be made in AT&T stock. The merger was completed in September 1991. In July NCR announced plans to create a new division to market computer products to telephone companies. NCR's market position was slowed by the hostile takeover and subsequent adjustment period. Exley retired in February 1992 and Gilbert Williamson, NCR president, succeeded him as CEO. Elton White, executive vice-president, moved into the president's spot.
Incorporating NCR, with its superior product development capabilities and focused marketing plan, into AT&T, whose computer products were not as sophisticated but whose market was universal, proved to be a challenging task. To counter the market drop, a restructuring of NCR occurred almost immediately. In August 1992, even before the merger was completed, plans to close NCR's Cambridge, Ohio plant were announced. In November NCR's Workstation Products Division was split into smaller groups that would function as independent corporations. A number of AT&T employees and products were moved into the division at this time. That same month, AT&T announced that 120 workers would be released from NCR's Network Products Division in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Despite the internal upheaval caused by the hostile takeover bid, NCR continued to develop new products. A pen-based notepad computer, the NCR System 3125, was introduced in June 1991. The computer was the first of its kind to use an electronic stylus instead of a keyboard. The alliance with Teradata was solidified in December when NCR purchased the company for $520 million in AT&T stock. Ironically, Teradata's biggest customer had been AT&T.
GIAI ĐOẠN 1992-1993
CEO: Gil Williamson
In early 1993, after initially keeping a "hands-off" attitude toward NCR, AT&T installed one of its executives, Jerre Stead, as NCR CEO. Stead's casual, "open-door" approach was one that clashed with NCR's conservative corporate culture, and his desire to broaden NCR's focus and step up the company's production of PCs was not popular in all quarters. In 1994 NCR also was renamed AT&T Global Information Solutions (GIS).