---
id: "org-ibm"
type: "entity"
entityType: "organization"
canonicalName: "IBM"
aliases: ["International Business Machines"]
source_timestamps: ["§ 3. Collaborative ecosystem: Work the network."]
tags: ["technology", "healthcare", "failure-case"]
related: ["concept-collaborative-ecosystem", "org-mccormick"]
canonical_url: "ibm.com"
source_url: "https://hbr.org/2026/01/match-your-ai-strategy-to-your-organizations-reality"
source_title: "Match Your AI Strategy to Your Organization's Reality"
sources: ["spine"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-spine"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-sig-55-match-ai-strategy-to-reality"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/01/match-your-ai-strategy-to-your-organizations-reality"
sourceTitle: "Match Your AI Strategy to Your Organization’s Reality"
---
# IBM

**Two roles.** (1) **Enabler** — IBM partnered with [[org-mccormick]] to build the SAGE flavor-development AI (a [[concept-focused-differentiation]] success). (2) **Failure case in [[concept-collaborative-ecosystem]]** — IBM's Watson-powered **Oncology Expert Advisor** partnership with MD Anderson aimed to revolutionize cancer care but stalled in the pilot phase: despite promising tech, the partnership failed to align the technology and data with actual clinical practice and organizational workflows. Illustrates that superficial alignment collapses ecosystems.