Dusk At Dell
Executive Summary
This case analysis report focuses on the declining market share faced by Dell, Inc. (“Dell”, the “Company”) and recommendations are given as to where the Company needs to alter its strategy at a business level as well as a corporate level. Broad recommendations include foraying into the retail space at a more aggressive pace, laying greater impetus in fast emerging markets such as China and India, and focusing more on R&D efforts in order to ensure that higher levels of innovation are achieved by the Company.
Introduction
Dell, Inc. (“Dell”, the “Company”) is a multinational company that specializes in the development, manufacture, marketing and servicing of computers and computer related products. Dell has been one of the most successful firms in the computer industry, having achieved supernormal revenue growth and above average returns for several years spanning the mid 1990’s to the mid 2000’s. This was mainly due to their prowess in customizing products as per customer requirements, coupled with effective manufacturing and supply chain processes. The Company encourages little or no intervention from distributors and middlemen, and majority of all sales are based on a direct customer relationship business model. The firm’s resources focused on supply chain capabilities, with frequent inventory turnover and direct delivery emerging as Dell’s core competencies. At the time when Dell established these core competencies, they were valuable, rare and were not easy to imitate, therefore allowing the Company to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
More recently, industry dynamics have rapidly changed and competitive rivalry has also intensified to a very large extent. The external environment has changed significantly and demographic factors, coupled with economic indicators such as large disposable incomes that is now