Verified Document

Dell Case Study

Dell: High Velocity, Focused Supply Chain Management What are the Fundamental Reasons for Dell’s Success?

Dell was founded in the year 1983 by Michael Dell, who was at the time a medical student. Dell has since then become one of the biggest technological companies in America. The company has managed to accomplish this through the development of a strategy that is centered on high velocity, focused supply chain management, full visibility and partnerships with suppliers, focused manufacturing and building to order and lastly direct customer contact.

i. Direct Customer Contact

From the inception of Dell building its own machines in the year 1985, the company is perceived to have retailed its products directly to the consumer. This was attained through the removal of any middlemen in the process and ensuring that the consumers get the products considerably faster. In the same manner, it is deemed that Dell has made significant investments in customer relationship management systems so as to guarantee closeness and familiarity with its key consumers. Furthermore, it is perceived that the company has assessed the cost to serve dissimilar consumer segments by means of designing product offerings in view of that.

ii. Direct Communication with Consumers and Real-time Visibility

Dell’s strategy hinges on the internet, which permits the company to directly communicate with consumers and attain real-time visibility of...

Without a doubt, one of the fundamental qualities of the corporation’s supply chain encompasses fully visibility along the chain having linkage between sales and production systems and suppliers that provide constituents just-in-time more often than not directly to the production lines and through very minimal lead times.
iii. Standardization and Postponed Manufacturing

Dell led the way in the market with respect to implementation of standardization and postponed manufacturing. These aspects take into account the production of minimal common platforms, which are subsequently personalized in accordance to the demands of the consumers. Imperatively, through the approach of standardization, the amount of dissimilar product lines upstream declines significantly and products are organized in the downstream end the minute the orders of the consumers are visible (Sehgal, 2011).

What should Dell do next to maintain its competitive advantage? Is its business model still viable?

There are different actions that Dell needs to undertake in order to maintain its competitive advantage. One of the fundamental actions that the company ought to undertake is to capitalize on its distribution strategy. It is imperative to note that with the increasing capability of cutting out its middlemen implies that the company will ensure that its products get to the consumers considerably faster. Secondly, the company should make use…

Sources used in this document:

References

Dell, M. & Fredman, C. (1999). Direct from Dell : strategies that revolutionized an industry. New York: HarperBusiness.

Mangan, J., Lalwani, C., & Lalwani, C. L. (2016). Global logistics and supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons.

Sehgal, V. (2011). Supply chain as strategic asset : the key to reaching business goals. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.

Shimizu, T. (Ed.). (2005). Strategic Alignment Process and Decision Support Systems: Theory and Case Studies: Theory and Case Studies. IGI Global.


Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Dell Computers Dell Computer's Turnaround: Can It
Words: 1061 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Dell Computers Dell Dell Computer's turnaround: Can it work? At one point in its history, Dell Computers was considered to be a paragon of mold-breaking business innovation because of the radical way in which it challenged the accepted model of the computer industry. Rather than focusing on product innovation, Dell chose instead to primarily focus upon direct-to-consumer sales (both B2B and B2C). Dell "rose to fame in the 1990s and early 2000s by

Dell Computers Presents a Useful Company to
Words: 1552 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Dell Computers presents a useful company to perform a strategic management analysis upon. The personal computer industry has changed and evolved considerably in the past years and the market conditions today are also presenting new and exciting problems for this organization. The purpose of this essay is to examine Dell and its industry in terms of its current strategic outlook. The essay will present information on the personal computer industry,

Dell Total Quality Management Questions
Words: 1175 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

These vary by the type of managers and leaders there are in a given company. At Dell, transformational leaders are prevalent given the approach Michael Dell takes of allowing risk-taking, greater autonomy and support for decentralized decision making throughout the company (Dell Investor Relations, 2013). Explain different supplier relationship practices you think will be an advantage to the company, providing examples. There are many different approaches Dell takes in creating and

Dell Computer Dell Operations Management: Dell Computer
Words: 1581 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Dell Computer Dell Operations management: Dell Computer This seems fitting, given that it was Dell who conceived of the unique business model that catapulted Dell to the forefront of the PC market for nearly a decade. What is so extraordinary about the Dell success story (and some would say, the Dell fall from grace) is that Dell achieved its success through its operations management rather than creating a new product like Apple or

Dell the Personal Computer Industry in 1998
Words: 1246 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Dell The personal computer industry in 1998 was attractive. Using Porter's five forces analysis, the reasons for this attractiveness can be determined (QuickMBA, 2010). Most computer makers have a moderate amount of bargaining power over suppliers. The handful of major computer makers have high volume and the inputs are not sufficiently differentiated, both factors that give some power to the computer maker. There are also low switching costs within the industry.

Dell Is One Among the Largest Computer
Words: 4282 Length: 15 Document Type: Essay

Dell is one among the largest computer system companies in the world, which is unique and popular because of its direct marketing policy. It deals in manufacturing personal computers, servers or enterprise products, storages and offer IT solutions for the customers. The services provided by the company are of high quality and low cost, thus providing the source of economical investment to the clients. Dell is among the pioneers and

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now