Part I: Introduction/Background Summary
In 1984, Michael Dell invested $1,000 in start-up capital to register his business as Dell Computer Corporation, which was known as PC's Limited. The company becomes the first in the industry to sell directly to end-users by passing the dominant system of using computers resellers to sell mass-produced computers. Dell Computer also pioneers the industry first thirty-day money back guarantee. It became the cornerstone of Dell's commitment to expand its service offerings, superior customer satisfaction, and the industries first on site service program.
Case Study of Dell Computer Corporation
Introduction
Michael Dell founded Dell Computer Corporation in 1984 with a simple vision and business concept – that personal computers can be built to order and sold directly to consumers. Michael believed his approach had two advantages: (i) by passing distributors and retail dealers eliminated the markups of resellers, and (ii) building to order greatly reduced the costs and risks associated with carrying large stocks of parts, components and finished goods. Its build-to-order and sell-direct approach proved appealing to growing numbers of customers in the mid 1990s as global PC sales rose to record level. In 1998, it was already the 3rd manufacturer in the United States with a 12% share of PC market and a nearly 6% share worldwide. The company’s fastest growing market for the past several quarters was Europe.
IBM is a multinational corporation that started its activities in 1911. But its origins can be traced back to 1890, during the height of the Industrial Revolution. It was first known as the Computing-Recording Company, and then in 1924, it took the name of International Business Machines. Nowadays, this multinational company is known as the ¡§Big Blue¡¨
Apple Inc. is one of those companies that continues to introduce new innovations into the market every year. They are a leading multinational technology company specializing in the development, design, and sell of software, online services and applications, and personal computing devices. As with any business risk or uncertainty is always a concern (Byrd, Hickman, & McPherson, 2013). Apple’s success is often contributed to their past leadership, with Steve Jobs at the helm. However, following his death in 2011, there was a lot of speculation on whether or not the company would continue to be a leader in the market without Steve Jobs (Tetzeli, 2015). This is just one of the uncertainties that Apple has faced in the past few years. Through
Apple Inc. headquartered in Cupertino, California was founded in 1976 by three men named Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. Apple Inc. has a strong presence worldwide; the company currently has 478 Apple retail stores in 17 different countries. The company focuses primarily on designing, developing, and selling electronics, computer software, and online services. Some of the hardware products are; iPhone, Mac laptop, the Apple watch, and the iPad tablet. Apple Inc. has become one of the most important American companies due to its innovative skills. According to a Forbes article, “The Boston Consulting Group ranks Apple as the world’s most innovative company. Apple has topped BCG’s list of 50 companies every year since 2005.”(Adams,
Dell Inc. is a manufacturer of personal and business computers with a global reach. They are located in Round Rock, Texas and have several manufacturing and customer services sites domestically and globall...
Competitive Strategy
Competitive strategy is the approach that an organisation takes in order to gain advantage over its competitors. According to Porter, there are two major sources of competitive advantages: costs and differentiation. Cost-based competitive advantage involves reducing production costs so that an organisation can earn higher profit margin or offer products at lower price compared to competitors. Differentiation-based competitive advantage involves offering unique properties that are not offered by competitors’ products. Differentiation allows an organisation to charge a premium for their products because they offer additional benefits to buyers.
Dell Computer have recently announced changes to their business strategy and supporting supply chain. They will no longer focus on a made to order direct sales model for their personal computers. Nor will they continue to refine their renowned supply chain model that supported their sales model. Instead, they will be looking to produce personal computers with fixed configurations at lower prices. This essay looks at why Dell have changed their strategy, and then considers the customer value proposition of the new strategy, as well as lessons that other organisations can learn from the Dell experience.
3. Is Dell “doing the Right Thing” by continuously changing its business model?
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.
Michael Dell founded the company Dell to offer network servers, workstations, storage systems, Ethernet switches, desktops, and notebook PCs after successfully selling his computers to customers directly in Texas. Over the course of three years his sales volume warranted the opening of an international sales office in 1987. In 1988 he began selling to large customers including several government agencies and Dell became a publicly traded company.