IBM’s relationships with suppliers were basically nonexclusive.
Obviously, suppliers like Intel, Microsoft and Lotus were happy to help the success of Compaq and others because it allowed them to diversify the risk of over-dependent on IBM.
For its part, IBM was flush with more demand and success than it knew what to do with.
Top managers didn’t focus on slowing the development of clone makers and nonexclusive suppliers – or keeping crucial elements of value like the microprocessor in-house.