ThinkPad past several years." Although Lenovo acquired the right to use the IBM brand name for five years after its acquisition of IBM's personal computer business, Lenovo only used it for three years. The majority of ThinkPad computers since the 2005 acquisition of the brand by Lenovo have been made in China. In addition to these Chinese manufacturing facilities, Lenovo employs 300 people at a combined manufacturing and distribution center near its American headquarters in Morrisville, North Carolina. Each device made in this facility "is packed in a box that sports a red-white-and-blue sticker proclaiming "Whitsett, North Carolina." In 2012, Lenovo
Lenovo on carriers to sell its phones, its phones lacked strong branding and unique features to distinguish them in the competitive Chinese market where a weak economy and saturated market is slowing demand and the culture clash between a more hierarchical PC company and the need to be nimble to sell rapidly-evolving smartphones. In response to the weak sales, Lenovo announced in August 2015 that it would lay off 3,200 employees, mostly in its Motorola smartphone business. In the reorganization which followed, Lenovo was uncertain how to brand its Motorola smartphones. In November 2015, members of Lenovo management made statements that