...Introduction and Company background The purpose of this case study is to analyze the new product scenario and provide a written report. Dell Computers was founded by Michael Dell in 1984 and has its head offices in Round Rock, Texas. (Benedetto, 2012, p. 165) Michael Dell has a very simply philosophy, selling computer systems directly to customers, Dell could best understand their needs and efficiently provide the most effective computing solutions to meet those needs. This direct business model eliminates retailers that add unnecessary time and cost, or can diminish Dell's understanding of customer expectations. (Dell Inc. - Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Dell Inc., 2012) Michael Dell started his company while he was still in College in 1984. The premise was to buy IBM parts wholesale and assemble computers and sell them for less money than the competitors were selling theirs for. Dell achieved sales of $6 million its first full year in business, approaching $40 million the next year. (Dell Inc. - Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Dell Inc., 2012) Dell soon realized that he could not keep up with the explosive growth of the company and hired Tandy Corporations marketing executive team to run things. Tandy was a competitor at the time. Dell has experienced a very nice trajectory through the 90’s and projection over the next 5 years show a 47% increase in the number...
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...Abstract Company Overview Michael Dell, who was a student at the University of Texas, decided to establish a computer company with a capital of only $1000. He was following the "direct model" concept where all the products were customized based on the orders and requests of the customers. It is headquartered in Round Rock, Texas but receives nearly half of its revenues from outside the United States. Dell offers produces and markets a wide range of technology products for the consumer, education, enterprise, and government sectors. In addition to a full line of desktop and notebook PCs, Dell offers network servers, data storage systems, printers, Ethernet switches, and peripherals such as displays and projectors. In addition to third-party software and many services such as asset recovery, financing, support and so on. Strategic analysis summary This case study analyzes Dell Company from a strategic perspective, which shows that Dell follows a differentiation Strategy. In the analysis of Internal and External factors; Dell has scored medium on both external and internal factors analysis with scores of (2.78) and (2.56) respectively. Showing good financial position compared to its competitors, the financial analysis revealed that the company was able to enhance and increase its market share and power after the recession especially after 2009. This study led us to recommend using the QSPM matrix. Dell has to be aware of the price war started by rivals in which...
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...Introduction Dell Computer Corporation was founded in 1984 by Michael Dell in his dorm room at the University of Texas. In 2003, the company name was changed to Dell Inc. to reflect evolution of it from a computer manufacturer to a company that provides a wide range of technology related services. Dell Inc., now an American privately owned multinational company, became successful by providing quality inexpensive computer products than its competitors and grew to be the number one in the world (Exhibit 1) by implementation of its Direct Model. While competitors sold primarily through distributors, resellers and retailers, Dell directly took specified orders from customers through its established website and telephone lines, built and shipped devices to customers. Dell’s success started when its revenue surfaced $80,000 per month in 1984, and its ever growing revenue to billions of dollars, shares price and domination of PC market and standards until its defeat by Wlett-Packard (HP) in 2007. The ever falling of Dell’s shares price eventually made Michael Dell to buy back Dell’s shares in order to be able to restructure its legacy PC business one day. Company’s Current Strategy Dell Inc. pursues a focused differentiation strategy by offering premium quality products and devices and the best possible before and after sales customer service in a very timely manner. Dell believes it has the most efficient business model in the fierce competitive PC making industry. The company’s...
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...Prelude case Dell Corporation FT What if a manufacturing company didn’t need to have any inventory? Imagine the reduction to cost structure that could be achieved by simply getting rid of the need to carry huge amounts of finished goods on its books – and eliminating the nail-biting stress of waiting until those goods are sold. For Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Austin, Texas-based Dell Corporation, very little imagination is required. He has built a company with annual revenues in excess of $40bn entirely around a vision whereby manufacturing of an individual item does not begin until it has been ordered by a customer. Every single Dell product has an end user’s name on it before it even leaves the factory. Visiting a Dell factory gives you an idea of just how effective Michael Dell has been in executing this supply chain management philosophy. At the company’s Irish factory near Limerick, for example, there are 40 doors at one end of the factory that deliver the parts needed to build a variety of products – including desktop computers and servers – and 40 doors at the other end of the factory where the finished goods are dispatched to be delivered to customers. The company never holds more than four hours’ worth of parts inventory at any time – and Dell is not even considered to have acquired the parts until the moment they are offloaded from a truck and brought into the factory. The same process is used in Dell operations throughout the world, including the company’s showcase...
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...Marketing | Dell | New Horizons Case Study | | | 7/1/2012 | | Executive Summary In 1984, at the age of 19, Michael Dell founded Dell Computer with a simple vision and business concept; that personal computers could be built to order and sold directly to customers. Michael Dell believed his approach to PC manufacturing had two advantages: (1) bypassing distributors and retail dealers eliminated the markups of resellers, and (2) building to order greatly reduced the costs and risks associated with carrying large stocks of parts, components, and finished goods. Now, that concept picked up and arrived at Dell being the multi-billion dollar leading computer manufacturer in the world with 2001 revenues reaching $32 Billion and return on investment of 335%. However, things started to plummet by 2001 and Dell experienced, for the first time, a -10% decline in sales and unprecedented cutthroat competition from HP and IBM. Dell Corp. had to make difficult decisions on how to sustain its profitability in light of its broad product portfolio - PCs, workstations, servers and storage products for a broad cross-section of customers in the United States and worldwide. Fueled with ambition and determination, Michael Dell is set to maintain his company's leading position in these tough times. Dell, facing a predicament of whether they should maintain their strategic course or fundamentally change it in order to achieve the targeted growth rates, managed to acquire three important...
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...Case Study of Dell : Inspiring the leadership In 1984, at the age of 19, Michael Dell founded Dell Computer with a simple vision and business concept—that personal computers could be built to order and sold directly to customers. Michael Dell believed his approach to the PC business had two advantages: (1) bypassing distributors and retail dealers eliminated the markups of resellers and (2) building to order greatly reduced the costs and risks associated with carrying large stocks of parts, components, and finished goods. While the company sometimes struggled during the 1986-1993 period trying to refine its strategy, build an adequate infrastructure, and establish market credibility against better-known rivals, Dell’s strategy started to click into full gear in the late 1990s. Going into 2003, Dell’s sell-direct and build-to-order business model and strategy had provided the company with the most efficient procurement, manufacturing, and distribution capabilities in the global PC industry and given Dell a substantial cost and profit margin advantage over rival PC vendors. Dell’s operating costs ran about 10 percent of revenues in 2002, compared to 21 percent of revenues at Hewlett Packard, 25 percent at Gateway, and 46 percent at Cisco Systems (considered the world’s most efficient producer of networking equipment). Dell’s low-cost provider status was powering its drive for market leadership in a growing number of product categories. Dell Computer was solidly entrenched...
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...and Extending the Business Model With Information Technology: Dell Computer Corporation Kenneth L. Kraemer, Jason Dedrick, and Sandra Yamashiro Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations (CRITO), Graduate School of Management, and Department of Information and Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA Keywords The exceptional performance of Dell Computer in recent years illustratesan innovative response to a fundamental competitive factor in the personal computer industry—the value of time. This article shows how Dell’s strategies of direct sales and build-to-order production have proven successful in minimizing inventory and bringing new products to market quickly, enabling it to increase market share and achieve high returns on investment. The Dell case illustrates how one business model may have inherent advantages under particular market conditions, but it also shows the importance of execution in exploiting those advantages. In particular, Dell’s use of information technology (IT) has been vital to executing both elements of its business model—direct sales and build-to-order—and provides valuable insights into how IT can be applied to achieve speed and exibility in an industry in which time is critical. Many of the insights gained from this case can be applied more generally to other time-dependent industries, suggesting that the ndings from the Dell case will have implications for a growing number of companies and...
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...Background of the company In 1983, 18-year-old Michael Dell left college to work full-time for the company he founded as a freshman, providing hard-drive upgrades to corporate customers. In a year’s time, Dell’s venture had $6 million in annual sales. In 1985, Dell changed his strategy to begin offering built-to-order computers. That year, the company generated $70 million in sales. Five years later, revenues had climbed to $500 million, and by the end of 2000, Dell’s revenues had topped an astounding $25 billion. The meteoric rise of Dell Computers was largely due to innovations in supply chain and manufacturing, but also due to the implementation of a novel distribution strategy. By carefully analyzing and making strategic changes in the personal computer value chain, and by seizing on emerging market trends, Dell Inc. grew to dominate the PC market in less time than it takes many companies to launch their first product I. Statement of the Problem Dell has been following its unique ‘direct build-to-order’ sales model for more than 20 years. Customers can plan their own configuration and place orders directly with the company via the phone or its Web site. Over the years, Dell’s supply chain efficiencies and direct sales gave it a competitive advantage. II. Statement of Objectives * Examine and analyze Dell’s Direct model, its basic working, success and future challenges * Typical Working of Dell’s Supply Chain and future supply chain challenges * Highlights...
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...Crafting And Executive Strategy Assignment 1 Case Study # 6 Dell Inc. In 2008 : Can it overtake Hewlett – Packard as the worldwide leaders in personal computers ? Submitted to : Prof. James Farmer Submitted By : Roshni Patel Student Number : 300686000 Question 1: Dell inc. Began with a ‘winning strategy’. At this time (2012), this strategy is not used to the extent that it was once was and the company is now not the company that it was once. Did Dell’s strategy fails, did the company fail to effectively execute the strategy or did the environment changes around Dell? Evaluate the possibilities. Answer: Dell is a global company that delivers products and services in more than 190 countries and company had given employment to over 4000 employees. The company deals in enterprise computing products, monitors, printers, software and peripherals with a focus on fully integrated improved environmental performance into business. The company had gone through many ups and downs from its inception in 1984 and has to face many challenges and competitors to stay ahead in the market. Dell founded the company with simple vision and business concept that the personal computers could be built and sold directly to consumers which would eliminate the additional cost of intermediaries between the company and consumer and thus reducing the overall cost of the PCs making it cheaper than other PCs in the market. The other advantage was that it reduces the costs and risk associated with...
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...University of Texas at Austin Graduate School of Business 3/3/99 Dell Computer Corporation: A Zero-Time Organization Deep in the heart of Texas lies a Fortune 500 company who exemplifies many of the principles of a Zero Time organization. Dell Computer Corporation has seen extraordinarily growth: a 58% revenue increase and an 82% profit increase in 1997, an equally extraordinary short period of time. Sales rose to $12.3 billion in 1997, profits to $944 million in 1997, and the stock split for the sixth time in 1998. Much of this success is due to management principles and a vision that we describe here. First we provide some background information on the company, and we describe the management principals and philosophies we think make Dell a success. Finally, we describe Dell using the lens of a Zero Time organization. Company Background Many know the story of Michael Dell, his college-based business of building personal computers with available parts, and his build to order strategy. Founded in 1984 as PC’s Limited, the name was officially changed worldwide to Dell Computer Corporation when the first stock offering took place, in June 1988. Other key turning points, according to Michael Dell, were in 1986, when Dell first went outside the US to Europe and hit $50 million in sales; 1989, when the company when from last to first place in their industry on the management of their inventory; and 1993 when the concept of segmenting took shape and allowed the ...
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...analyze the possible alternatives of Dell Computer Corporation in funding its future growth and expansion from the point of view of its top management. Given the company’s financial statements, projected growth in sales, and its working capital financial ratios, this paper forecasted Dell’s balance sheet and income statement for 1997 to trace the external fund needed, if any, and which type of funding is most optimal to fund its future operations and growth. The forecast used a set of assumptions based on the company’s historical data and company policies. After experiencing its first loss late 1993, the company dedicated itself to bringing back its efficient operations to keep up with the fast growing computer industry, minimizing middlemen retailers and shifting the company’s focus to the growth of their liquidity, profitability, and overall growth. The company eventually recovered through its new and improved internal systems of inventory control and vendor certification, ensuring that its products are always of the highest quality. Ensuring its foothold in the market, Dell was the pioneer in manufacturing Pentium-based products and transforming its major product line to Pentium technology. In 1995, Dell was able to ship its new system that was equipped with Microsoft’s Windows 95 on the same day that Microsoft released their operations system. Now, Dell is again atop the industry outpacing revenue growth and increasing its net income. Dell in the recent years has always financed...
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...Matching Dell Como en cualquier negocio o circunstancia, una empresa o persona tiene que tomar decisiones que impliquen dejar algo a un lado, estos “trade offs” son parte de cualquier estrategia, no se puede hacer todo siempre. El punto del caso para mi es claro, si analizamos como estaba el negocio de IT en 1998 vemos un Dell creciendo con una estrategia clara con una excelente ejecución, vemos la competencia que quería imitar lo que estaba haciendo Dell, sin ser su estrategia, y una ejecución regular tendiendo a ser positiva. En mi opinión, lo que en ese caso tenía que hacer Dell es seguir ejecutando con su modelo directo, le venía funcionando, los resultados eran excelentes, lo único que les recomendaría es estar atentos al punto de inflexión donde esta estrategia dejara de ser tan exitosa, para adaptar el cambio de manera rápida y ordenada. Lo que tenía que hacer HP, Compaq, etc, es definir si quieren dedicar sus recursos, modelo de negocio, etc a la venta directa o seguir como estaban operando con canales muy definidos, pero tratar de atacar los dos sectores iba a traer algunos costos de complejidad, y diferencias con alguno de los modelos, ya sea un “enojo” de parte de los resellers, o un “enojo” de parte de los compradores directos. Se pueden hacer análisis de porter, u otro tipo de análisis para confirmar la hipótesis, pero el hecho es que aun cuando hay maneras muy buenas de hacer las cosas en otros lados (en este caso la manera de Dell), la solución no siempre...
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...Dell Direct Introduction Michael Dell is the CEO and founder of Dell. He started this company in 1984 when he was a student. The idea of Michael Dell when starting the company was that consumers of computers would like customized products that serve their own purpose. By so doing, Dell Computer Company developed a marketing strategy focusing on consumer direct purchase of their products from the source. This strategy has allowed the company survives in the market irrespective of many competitors who have similar products, (Musil, 2011).Dell is in the process of understanding consumer behaviours on personal computers and other equipment that relates to computer. With the increase in the number of companies with similar computer services, Dell need to focus on its marketing strategy in order to establish the best market segment. This essay will focus on how Dell should use the exploratory research design understand consumer behaviours on purchase of personal computers. The essay will also evaluate on the current company’s marketing strategy and determine its applicability towards survival and growth in the market. Discussion The most vital aspect in the current personal computer market is to develop products that serve needs of consumers. Dell Computer Company must develop a research study and determine how household consumers purchase personal computers. This will help the company come up with a marketing strategy for marketing its products. Reaching the target population...
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...Dell Computer Corporation Dell Computer Corporation since its arrival in the computer manufacturing business has been following the “Direct Model” that has helped it to leverage its position as a leading manufacturer of PCs. When Dell entered the PC manufacturing industry there were already established competitors like IBM, HP, COMPAQ, Gateway and Apple.IBM was the pioneer with respect to technical standards in the PC industry and also had an open architecture allowing developers to build applications suitable for running on the IBM machines. The industry was rallying around the standards set by IBM and all major players in the industry had IBM clone machines except for Apple which was using alternative standards and had its own proprietary architecture. The major players had strong sales force teams and dealer networks .So the PC industry had a lot of competition and there was very less opportunity for any substantial growth in the industry. Because of presence of so many competitors in the industry price wars were common and locking in customers could only be done by providing them with a cost effective solution. Also the PC manufacturing industry had two prominent suppliers for the microprocessor (Intel) and the operating system (Microsoft) ,the two most important things required in building a PC. Even though Intel made the microprocessor available to purchasers at a standard price it rationed new products to PC makers based on the proportion of their previous purchases...
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...SCHOOL OF BUSINESS STANFORD UNIVERSITY CASE NUMBER: EC-17 November 2000 DELL DIRECT1 In 1995, a manager from a leading Japanese computer company was recounting his company’s plans to conquer the US Personal Computer (PC) market: “We have a strong brand name in consumer electronics, and what’s most important, we build many of the components that are needed in the PC ourselves: monitors, audio equipment, CD-ROM, DRAM, and so on. This will give us a tremendous advantage over American competitors, who have to buy everything outside” [1]. Several years later, it looks like the competitive weapon of this and other Japanese electronics giants had misfired. Hitachi, Sony and Fujitsu have spent vast resources trying to crack the US PC market, but had only captured a marginal share—and they had lost money doing it. At the same time, Texas-based Dell Computer Corporation, founded by 19-year-old Michael Dell in a university dormitory room, was growing rapidly, sustaining a much larger portion of the PC market than all Japanese vendors combined. And while the Japanese PC manufacturers were unable to earn any money in the US market, Dell, which produces no PC components, was highly profitable, grew by more than 50% each year over the 1995-1998 period, and saw its stock grow about 30,000% in a decade (see Exhibit 1 for Dell financial summary). Dell does not manufacture any components, but it can produce custom-built PCs in a matter of hours. How does Dell do it? Why did it succeed where the...
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