Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Foundations for Doctoral Study in Business

(BTM7107-8)

Ransford Addo

Northcentral University

Dr. Francis Maffei lll

Introduction

This research identifies two business professionals, Michael Dell and Andy Grove; their main contributions to their fields; the resistance that each encountered in presenting and furthering their programs; the similarities and differences in their stories; and finally, the factors that may have impacted their success.

Michael Dell

Michael Dell is founder and CEO of Dell Corporation, a fortune 500 company which was the number one stock of the 1990s, soaring almost 90,000 percent (Krames, 2003, p. 58-59). Dell discovered his entrepreneurial abilities early in life when at 12 years, he issued his first product catalog, the Dell Stamps (Krames, 2003, p. 58). Dell has contributed positively to the technological industry by not only building computers, but also showcasing his outstanding entrepreneurial abilities. Through mass customization, Dell revolutionized the industry. According to Draft (2013), “mass customization refers to using mass-production technology to quickly and cost-effectively assemble goods that are uniquely designed to fit the demands of individual customers” (p. 31). Mass customization enabled Dell to achieve significant savings by eliminating intermediaries. Through customer segmentation, Dell was able to determine the needs and specifications of customers, while forecasting the demand. What is unique about this strategy is that, Dell was able to prove that, companies can be successful with mass customization only when the customer is placed at the epicenter of every activity of the organization.

Dell’s success did not come without some major resistance. For instance, “Dell experimented with an indirect model – a product sold through computer stores; but the effort failed” (Krames, 2003, p. 59). This failure in strategy can be attributed to the company’s lack of capital at the time which was necessary for its full implementation. The failure of Olympic is another major challenged faced by Dell. This reaffirmed the company’s signature strategy of not only designing products to meet customer expectations, but actually involving the customer in every aspect of the company’s activities.

Andy Grove

Andy Grove is an industrious business professional who founded Intel in the late 1960s, and in 1997, was named Person of the Year by Time Magazine (Krames, 2003, p. 134-135). Grove’s personal mantra, “only the paranoid survive” has helped not only Intel, but many companies in the industry to craft a winning strategy. His paranoid perspective underscores that fact that businesses, no matter their successes, should not be complacent. As Grove puts it, “Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure” (Krames, 2003, p. 135). Andy Grove’s immense contribution to leadership knowledge especially, his signature proposal on how to deal with drastic change cannot be overemphasized. As a result of challenges that Grove encountered, he was able to diagnose the strategic inflection points, and suggested ways of dealing with such challenges as they arise; suggesting how companies can turn such weaknesses to strengths.

Andy Grove’s success did not come without challenges. As new competitors flood the market, Intel’s monopoly came under threat. For instance, the “Japanese threat” of the 1980s was a major challenge which caused the company its hold on the market. The “minor design error” of Intel’s Pentium processor was the worst challenged ever faced by the company.

Similarities and Differences

There are several similarities in the professional stories of Michael Dell and Andy Grove. For instance, both professionals believed in forecasting the demand of customers. Both professionals believe that by accurately forecasting customer demand, the company is able to make significant savings by limiting its tendency to overproduce. Dell’s story also underscores the fact that accurate forecasting even in difficult economic times, enables companies to thrive.

The main difference in both professional stories is that, whiles Dell focused on cost savings by eliminating intermediaries which ultimately, enabled the company to be more competitive, Intel focused on moving ahead of the completion by producing a more unique products for its market.

Factors that Impacted their Success

One important factor that impacted Dell’s success is the advent of the internet. The internet has made it easy for the company to more easily reach every segment of its market. Through the internet, Dell’s customers can get access to product specifications and the access to basically build computers which meets their needs. This phenomenon has significantly enhanced the financial fortunes of Dell in recent times. For instance, “in early 2002, Dell was raking in between $60 and $70 million of sales over the internet on daily basis” (Krames, 2003, p. 65). Intel as a company, has also seen factors that impacted its success. Innovation is a factor that has impacted Intel’s success especially, after the threat posed by the Japanese.

Conclusion

Both Dell and Grove had strategies they believed in. They pursued their strategies to achieve success for their companies. The contribution of these business professionals to their fields cannot be overemphasis. Finally, apart from the similarities between their professional stories, both Dell and Grove have differences in their professional experiences.

References

Draft, R. L. (2013). Organization theory and design: Mass customization. 11th Ed.

Mason, OH: Nelson Educational Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1111221294

Krames, J. A. (2003). What the best CEOs know: 7 exceptional leaders and their lessons for

transforming any business. Retrieved on November 13, from:

http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ncent/docDetail.action?docID=10045327&p00