Running head: Compare and contrast legends: Michael Dell and Andy Grove 1
Comparison and contrasting of two industry legends: Michael Dell and Andy Grove
James K. Gornto
Northcentral University
TWO INDUSTRY LEGENDS: MICHAEL DELL AND ANDY GROVE 2
Abstract
Dell and Grove are two computer industry legends and both experienced the ultra highs
of being the head of companies that were industry leaders and the gut wrenching lows of
managing those same companies through periods of crisis that could have lead to
destruction. Michael Dell from his beginning of making and selling computers from his
college dorm room directly to becoming CEO of Intel , the number one computer selling
market share position company worldwide, always placed the customer at the epicenter
of his business model. Andy Grove at one point in time was CEO of Intel, which had a
100% market share of the world’s computer memory business and he witnessed that
position erode to the brink of corporate bankruptcy. Grove utilized the outside approach
to develop the business strategy that would twice save Intel from disaster.
TWO INDUSTRY LEGENDS: MICHAEL DELL AND ANDY GROVE 3
Comparison and contrasting of two industry legends: Michael Dell and Andy Grove
MICHAEL DELL
At age nineteen Dell went to college and shortly thereafter converted his dorm room
into a personal-computer laboratory and soon thereafter began selling his computers
directly to users. He formed Dell Computing Corporation in 1984, went public four years
later and at age 27 Michael Dell was the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company and he
attributes that meteoric rise to one key thing: A business model that was based on a one-
to-one relationship with the customer with no intermediaries (Krames, 2003).
Dell’s approach to the computer business was different from his competitors in
that Dell does not build the product until after the customer order comes in. This
approach by Dell not only provides positive results in inventory and cash flow
management, it provides an unobstructed communication link and view between the
ultimate user customer and Dell (Krames, 2003).
ANDY GROVE
Unlike Michael Dell the Andy Grove story begins with unusual circumstances, as he
was a Holocaust survivor, poor immigrate, age 22, to New York from Europe. Grove
worked and paid his own way to college, then joined the newly founded Intel
Corporation. Grove was named Time Magazine Person of the Year for his part in the
computer revolution (Krames, 2003).
Possibly seeded by his background of poverty, holocaust survival plus the trials of
being a non–English speaking immigrant to America he had a personal slogan “Only the
paranoid survive.” and that “Success breads complacency and complacency breeds
TWO INDUSTRY LEGENDS: MICHAEL DELL AND ANDY GROVE 4
failure.” (Krames, 2003, p. 85) He used the outside approach to recovery business
strategy meaning “…truly study your organization –warts and all- look at your company
as an outsider”. They used that outsider perspective to develop transforming strategy for
Intel (pp. 86).
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
They both worked at an early age, Dell as he was an inventor and entrepreneur selling
his computers from his dorm room. While Grove as a poor immigrate and necessarily
worked to survive and paid his way through graduate school. Both of these legends were
dreamers and entrepreneurs in that they joined new or recently formed tech companies to
pursue their future. Dell faulted with a new family of computer products named Olympic
and attributed that fault to failing to follow his principle of the customer being in the
epicenter. He thought he knew what the customer wanted. His successes were built on
knowing exactly what the customer wanted. Grove stumbled mightily when his company
lost its entire business to Japanese memory technology and development. His
management and leadership of Intel’s recovery and future successes were grounded in the
outside approach to recovery business strategy meaning “…truly study your organization
–warts and all- look at your company as an outsider”. They used that outsider
perspective to develop transforming recovery strategy for Intel. (Krames, 2003, p.88)
CONCLUSION
Michael Dell and Andy Grove are truly legends of their industry. Grove’s management
metal was forged by his early years as an immigrate and Dell focused on the most direct
link to a customer’s needs are different in approach, but provided unbelievable results.
TWO INDUSTRY LEGENDS: MICHAEL DELL AND ANDY GROVE 5
References
Krames, J.A. (2003). What the best CEOs know. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill 