IBM's Dominance of the Computer Industry The dominance that IBM enjoyed over the computer industry from the mid-1950's to the mid-1970's was not achieved primarily through superior technology, but through superior marketing and customer service. IBM realized that customer were interested in solutions to problems rather that the technical merits of a machine. With this in mind, IBM took a total- system approach to computers, not just a central processing unit approach. Even early on, IBM realized that it was important to make its products accessible to its customers. Thus, its computers were m