In its first week of global operations, new-look Lenovo showed the stuff of a world-class runner in a short-distance race - it took off like a rocket from the starting block and dashed across the finish line with plenty of time to spare.
Fran O'Sullivan, Lenovo senior vice-president and chief operating officer of international operations, warned rivals in the personal computer industry: 'They better get their running shoes ready.'
A US$200 million advertising and marketing onslaught would kick off worldwide in the next few days to sharpen Lenovo's new image, she said.
The Hong Kong-listed mainland firm closed its US$1.75 billion acquisition of IBM's personal computer unit on May 1 and officially became the world's third-largest PC maker after Dell and Hewlett-Packard.
To manage its hectic first seven days as a multinational information technology company, Lenovo operated with military precision to handle business in 160 countries and manage 19,000 employees worldwide.
A 1,000-strong team manned a clutch of command centres in the Americas, Europe and Asia, operating round-the-clock to co-ordinate the transition of IBM's former PC division and those of Lenovo in China into the combined firm.
'We went live after midnight on Saturday, which was early Sunday morning [May 1] eastern standard time,' said Ms O'Sullivan, who headed Lenovo's unified command centre in Raleigh, North Carolina.
