Based on the external environment and the historical perspective of Dell, Michael Dell needs to realize that his nearly 20 year-old business model needs a dramatic change. He needs to get the product in customers hands (before point-of-sale), focus on quality customer support/service, and use customer indicators as a sign of what areas need improvement/enhancement within the company. Additionally, limited options based on narrow-minded perceptions (only using Intel chips) not only cost Dell market share, it also cost them on the bottom line (Operations). Not listening to the needs and wants of loyal consumers can result in a loss of market share, which is what Dell has experienced.
REQUIRED ACTIONS
In my opinion, Dell will only regain its growth percentage when it ceases focusing on measuring profitability via delivery time ratios and number of unit sold and begins focusing on what foreign markets expect, based on their cultural differences. It seems Dell did little research before opening several foreign manufacturing facilities and attempting to develop international sales relations. As a result, they failed to alter their U.S. business model to meet the needs of other (foreign) consumers. Also, through this ignorance they also sacrificed the brand name and initial marketing push/hype.
SUPPORTING INTERNAL RESOURCES
Strategic groups should be used as internal resources to analyze the industry and use competitor analyses to observe whether the business mission is still being served, or perhaps requires modification to meet the changed environmental factors. The firm could use its internet associations to present the customer with a survey for feedback about the product offerings – what they would like to see added to the product line, or perhaps what service could be added or improved. Seeking the direct opinion of the loyal customer base is readily at hand when they are contacting customer service/support for assistance with a problem. Not only is this a prime opportunity for mending or strengthening a relationship, it is the opportunity to receive quality input from the consumer group that is purchasing Dell’s product.
STRATEGIC WEAKNESSES
The weaknesses to implement a new strategy are self-conceived via issuing poor customer service, limited consumer choice, limiting the consumer shopping experience to one method (indirect – phone, mail order, internet), and failing to measure quality before selling thousands of faulty products, thereby costing the firm significant amounts of profit and negatively altering the customer-base as a result of these actions.
1. How and why did the personal computer industry come to have such low average profitability?
A second alternative is a shift in marketing focus towards a new target segment and improved product. A strong and unified market strategy can strengthen synergies through new collaboration. Given the rapid growth, it is essential to reach influential segments that can create a mass appeal over the broader market. Doing so, will also require improving the quality of their product by focusing more on programming and less on hardware sales. A possible benefit would be creating a niche market that enables a rapid brand expansion. On the other hand, a possible drawback would be not being able to handle rapid
Intel’s future strategy is not to move away from PCs, for obvious reasons being that it is currently the most profitable component of the business, but to create an additional focus on expanding in housing data (Moorhead, 2016). Patrick Moorhead explains, “Intel believes its future lies within the core growth areas of cloud and data center, IoT (Internet of Things), memory, and programmable solutions.” (Moorhead, 2016, para.
Why has Dell been so successful despite the low average profitability in the PC industry?
...market share, Intel progressively reduced licensee and developed process and manufacturing infrastructure to manufacture chips by itself. Thus, it contained the “profit pool” in its value chain. Thereafter, successful tie-ups with ‘horizontal’ complementors like Compaq 7 Microsoft led to wrecking of IBM’s hegemony. With established leadership in microprocessor industry, Intel strategically started ‘Intel Inside’ and ‘Runs better on Pentium processor’ programs to improve brand recognition. As more and more end-customers identified Intel and microprocessor as the most important component in a PC, Intel could now command higher power and bargaining position with OEM and software manufacturers. This ensures demand-side control.
The problem with Dell Inc. was the rapid growth within the company in their beginning stages.
Speaking about the business model of Dell, it has ability to remain on the higher end of the scale for a particular time period. Dell has business model, which primarily focuses on direct selling line of attack. It in a straight line supplies the PCs to the regulars. It does not believe in intermediary, retailers for the business practices. Undeniably, this gives them an edge to serve customer well. Nevertheless, it understood the importance of retailers and start offering products on the premises of retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and so on. Next, Dell administration is certain of the exclusive business of PCs. As time goes on, however, observing the
2. SEVEN-ELEVEN'S SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY IN JAPAN CAN BE DESCRIBED AS ATTEMPTING TO MICRO-MATCH SUPPLY AND DEMAND USING RAPID REPLENISHMENT. WHAT ARE SOME RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS CHOICE?
Dell Inc. is a privately owned multinational technological company, which develops, sells repairs and supports computers and relates products and services. Dell Computer has a fully Internet-enabled supply chains, which is constructed by the extranet to automate interactions with suppliers, service partners and customers .
Dell Computers Strategy Global companies play an important role in the business environment, because they connect their businesses together around the world. A good example of a global company is Dell Inc., an American computer-hardware company, headquartered in Austin Texas, which develops, manufactures, sells and supports a wide range of personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, personal digital assistants (PDAs), software, computer peripherals, and more. They design, build and customize products and services to satisfy a range of customer requirements: from the server, storage and Premier Services needs of the largest global corporations, to those of consumers at home. According to the Fortune 500 2006 list, Dell ranks as the 25th-largest company in the United States by revenue.
In 1995 Dell entered the Chinese market. With a population of 1.3 billion this was a great new market for Dell to tap into. IBM, Compaq, and Hewlett-Packard had all ready realized this and had opened offices in China in the early 1990s.
This strategy was carried out by selling via phone, fax and direct sales, instead of selling through retail stores. Not only this approach differentiated Dell from other competitors at the time, it also reduced its operating costs as it did not have to rent expensive retail space. In addition, Dell’s strategy of selling customised computers allowed it to hold only a small amount of inventory, which reduce...
According to the casing study, Intel’s “Rebates” and Other Ways It “Helped” Customers Intel paid customer huge pay. As the dominating company, they purposely paid other companies not to use ADM products. They paid Dell 6 billion dollars over a 5 year period (Velasquez, 2014). In addition, they knew ADM would not be able to compete with them: they took advantage of their size and used their rebate program to try and ADM from advancing in the x86 processor industry. In addition, Intel’s monolply-like behavior is displayed in the terms of quality. They did not care about customers wanting the reliable x86 processors, they wanted to monopolize the market with their product, and would pay a huge amount of money to achieve their
According to Michael Cannon, Dell's President of Global Operations, the key differentiators that have made Dell so effective for nearly two decades are its made to order direct sales model and its innovative supply chain (SCN, 2008).
“The Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention,” is a theory that is approved by multiple famous authors. The theories main points are valuable and the theory should be looked upon more seriously. In Thomas Friedman’s essay, “The Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention,” he gives examples of how global supply chains would be constructive to promoting world peace. Friedman feels that if everyone is an ally to each other in some shape or form, then no one will want to engage in war. Madeline Albright would agree with Friedman’s theory according to her writings in “Faith and Diplomacy.” Albright felt that religion should play a factor in the diplomatic system of America, in order for us to maintain some kind of peace with other nations. Friedman and Albright both were looking for a solution to world peace. Albright would agree with this theory from the religious perspective. Appiah argued that an ideal global citizen would be essential to America, in his essays “Making conversation” and “The Primacy of Practice.” Appiah felt that people must have an understanding of each other in order to get along with each other. Both Appiah and Albright would agree with “The Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention.” “The Dell Theory stipulates: No two countries that are both part of a major global supply chain, like Dell’s, will ever fight a war against each other as long as they are both part of the same global supply chain”(Friedman 125).