This assumes IBM had the institutional competencies and structure to make that division work as well as Lenovo has. It's quite possible, and IMO likely, that I

This assumes IBM had the institutional competencies and structure to make that division work as well as Lenovo has. It's quite possible, and IMO likely, that IBM's former laptop and small server/workstation business is doing so well because IBM sold these lines to a company that has the correct core competencies. It's a common problem with companies like IBM and GE that try to go or stay too broad. It's hard to stay top-tier in several verticals at once without decentralizing the company to the point that each vertical is defectively an independent company anyway. Google has tried this with the Alphabet reorganization. GE partially did that with its quasi-independent business units, many of which it ended up selling anyway. IBM seems, from the outside, to be too monolithic to effectively divest a subsidiary. I think it will be telling what it does with Red Hat.