Business Model:
Dell Inc. founded by Michael Dell in the 1984 is the world's largest PC Manufacturer with annual sales of over $54 billion from around 170 countries. The Company was founded on a simple concept; that by selling personal computers directly to customers, Dell could best understand their needs and provides the most effective computing solutions to meet those needs. Dell provides computer systems under its enviable "low-cost direct sales model" under which the company maintains full ownership and control over manufacturing, distribution, and customer relationships. Dell has cut out middlemen, disguised as distributors, and the retail outlets from its supply chain, preferring to ship its products directly to customers.
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Dell diverted from its golden rule of "Never Sell Indirectly" to expand into different markets like India & China where the PC industry was dominated by vendors selling through indirect channels. Dell used distributors & retailers to sell there computers, though the benefits of reduced costs and increased attention customer experience and satisfaction were lost. But once they have a strong presence in the market and depending on the readiness of the markets, Dell expected that these markets would require less face-to-face contact and that more orders would be placed through the telephone or web thus reducing Dell's operating cost.
Key Issues:
Computers in Asian market were sold through vendors; hence there was an increase in operating cost & price of computers.
Staffing was another issue in China as it was difficult to find experienced direct sales people because direct sales were a new profession in China.
Major Customers in China's PC market were Government and Public Companies, and securing government contract was a major problem as they were influenced by local companies like Legend and Great Wall.
Consumer segment in China was lot different from US as the price of a PC could cost the equivalent of three months of a person wages.
Online payment had to be made by credit card, cheque or telegraphic transfer. Average consumer could not afford an investment; very few had a bank account. This created complications and delayed the
Dell. Dell’s products—computers, servers and printers—are commodities. Dell tends not to develop the technologies underlying these products. Instead, it purchases the components from firms that develop the technologies (semiconductors and computer software). Dell’s direct-to-customer marketing strategy is not unique, but the extent to which Dell performs this strategy better than anyone else in the industry gives it a competitive advantage. Its size, purchasing power, quality control, and efficiency permit it to operate as a low-cost provider.
The PC industry has started to develop fast in the 80 's when IBM launched its first PC series and later on when numerous small companies entered the market. PC is a new product and companies had to create the demand to it from the scratch.
They used to always complaints how the bill was never consistent. I felt really bad for them. Whenever we receive the monthly telephone bill you can feel this tension in my house. I wouldn’t dare use the phone during the month when the bill exceeds $500 or more. I think everything have changed for the better. The antitrust law pressed the issue with ATT’s monopoly ways to invent the baby bells. This behavior is not as complex to the U.S, but it has taken the country widespread all over the world community and each country has its own challenges. China had filled an investigation against Microsoft the computer for its monopolistic behavior. The authorities said that Microsoft Windows operating system was not conducting business the way China thought their product were being handled properly. Microsoft violated China’s antimonopoly law by packaging and sold their products the wrong way. The law suited stated that Microsoft was charging a fixed rate which made it unreasonable to go into business. Eventually that will cause the company to lose billions of dollar in profit both business and the
A purchased computer had workers build the computers causing a rise in price for labor. When buying a prebuilt computer, you also can be throwing away money on features that are not needed for your purpose.
The PCs became a commodity. Microsoft grew to be the leader in the operating system market continuing to develop their Windows GUI line. With Windows, software standards have been established allowing software developers to certify their products to meet Windows requirements and deliver controlled performance. In addition, the PCs allowed numerous hardware manufacturers to
Determining the most important factors to consider when doing business in China can be tricky. There are a number of things to consider starting with the Chinese culture. Chinese expect foreign businesses to be sensitive to their culture. They do not expect them to be fluent in the Mandarin language but they are more open to those who try. Chinese people are very are very loyal to their families and place high value on their history. Relationships take very high priority when attempting to forge new ventures in China. The Chinese are protective of their culture and work hard to maintain it’s integrity; therefore, they expect to take as much time that is needed to
The large capital requirements to enter the computer industry combined with established brand identities of the current incumbents make barriers to entry high, not to mention the economies of scale and distribution channels that incumbents enjoy which make entry barriers even higher. The current PC incumbents enjoy demand-side benefit of scale in the business sector where PC buyers prefer to buy products from large trusted companies, raising the level of entry barriers.
Dell Computer Corporation was founded in 1984 by Michael Dell. From the early 1990s until the mid-2000s, Dell was ranked as a PC market leader relying on their distinctive marketing pattern “Direct Model” which undertook direct communication with customers and provided customized products. Recently, the PC industry is facing inconceivable worldwide competition, and Dell is gradually losing their competitive advantages by using its direct model in critical business segments. The company is facing shrinkage of growth, increasing competition, declining quality of customer service, and limitation of expansion. These issues have an enormous impact on Dell’s position as a technological giant in the PC industry.
With China emerging as a global power in business within the last decade, knowing about doing business in China has become more important than ever. There are both many advantanges and challenges with doing business in China in this modern era, and understanding both sides of this coin is the key to being successful in China. Some aspects to keep in mind include the cultural barrier, the price of the work force in China compared to the United States, and have the “made in China” brand be accepted back in the United States.
True to nearly any commoditized product, pricing and availability became the only two significant differentiators quickly as Intel increased
Essay 1 : Introduction to Dell 3 Parts - Look at the Business Model in Particular (Is it fit for purpose?) – Then the Ecosystem – The Modularization and mention licensing Look the Paradigm of Dell Conclusion
There was a lack of international market experience since the China market was the second
Dell Inc. (Dell) is an American privately owned multinational computer technology company based in Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services (Wikipedia, 2016). Dell founded in 1984 by Michael dell, is the world famous computer systems, computer products and service provider in the first place (Jones, 2013, P.388).
The situation for new entrants was very complex in china; acquisition of cities took much longer than in developed countries. Starting a new business in china was not a rapid process. Making relationships between channels was a slow process, because manufacturers, distributors, and other actors preferred to negotiate with people who they knew before, in china personal relationships are quite important in businesses. Some factors that influenced this process were
In 2010 the total shipments of PC market reached 13.06 million units, an increase of 10.7% over 2009. View on the industrial chain, the basic pattern of PC products industry chain did not change throughout 2010. The whole industry chain of living was still the most dominant upstream chip and operating system. However, in these two markets, Intel and Microsoft are challenged with AMD and LINUX. Harvard business school case study—Taking Dell Private P1-2