Case Analysis: Dell
Introduction
Present CEO and chairman of the board Michael Dell founded Dell in 1984, as a leading technology provider that designs, develops, manufactures, and supports PCs, software and peripherals, storage and servers, and associated services. With operations in four geographic areas and additional business centers and manufacturing sites in more than 20 locations around the world, Dell is able to reach more than 24,000 retail locations worldwide. Dell’s ability to process in-depth customer knowledge and the tailoring of solutions to the specific customer, through a direct customer sales model, catapulted the company in 2008 to the top PC provider in the United States and second worldwide in terms of sales.
There is always a cost to “going green”, and the returns are hard to quantify.
Technological:
The technological segment is an important threat to Dell. Dell is constantly facing the threat of new entry into their market. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Dell watched new entrants from Taiwan and Japan such as Acer, Asus, Toshiba, and Fujitsu successfully enter the market and perform very well. Bigger brands such as Samsung, which is famous for its cell phones, LCD monitors, and TVs, also entered the Home User market with its lines of laptops. It is expected that more electronics makers will try to leverage their brand name and enter the home computing market. In regard to mobile computing, the entire computer market is undergoing a transition to more mobility-based computing products. In 2008, laptops outsold traditional desktop computers for the first time.
Global:
The global segment has many opportunities for Dell. Dell is targeting emerging markets with price-sensitive consumers. In emerging markets, Dell’s strategy is to focus on providing region specific products to meet the needs of emerging markets, particularly in Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC countries). This marketing and product development strategy targeting BRIC customers has led to 20 percent sales growth within the BRIC market. The BRIC market makes up 50 percent of the global economy (Hitt). As stated earlier, sales outside the U.S. accounted for 48