REVITALIZING DELL Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

Revitalizing Dell: Harvard Case Study

Introduction

Michael Dell, the founder, started Dell Inc. in 1980s by modernizing IBM clones. Later on, after a couple of years, he realized that it was time to officially launch a company by then name of Dell, Inc. The company had seen tremendous growth in its sales. The firm’s head linked the successful growth to “Direct Model”, a strong business plan. The company directly sold its product to its customers without involving any third party. In mid-2004, Michael stepped down as CEO and from the very next year, Dell’s sales got stagnant. With this, he soon realized that he was the right man to continue with the job.

Dell’s other rivals were adopting the same business plan but they weren’t able to become as successful as Dell. Though, Dell was a late comer in the PC industry but it soon gained ground and became a major player within a few years of its establishment in the industry. With the passing years, the company started looking to implement different strategies to beat all of its competitors. Acquiring Perot and diverting towards the service industry was one of the most significant step taken by Dell to have a sharper competitive edge. (Revitalizing Dell,2010)

Performance in the late 2000’s

Though, Michael Dell retired in 2004, but in 2007 he took back his retirement and re-gained the CEO seat due to the lack in sales. Kevin Rollins didn’t perform as efficiently as Michael had expected him to perform which eventually resulted in him losing his position to Michael. The returning CEO decided to bring changes to his top managing team. In an attempt to do so, Michael eyed all the talented employees from the top companies from around the globe.

Dell’s newly appointed head of consumer division was Ronald Garrigues from Motorola. The Motorola’s very famous Razr phone was launched under Ronald’s authorization. Moreover, Mike Cannon, the contract manufacturer, CEO of Solectron was robed in by Michael as chief global operations. Continuing with the hiring spree, the next man was a GE veteran, hired as Chief financial officer, named Brian Gladden. The last high profile hiring was of Ed Boyd from Nike who worked as a chief consumer design. (Exhibit 1)

The team dedicated itself to reduce the estimated cost by $3 billion. Its direct business model had gotten old and was starting to rot away, so it was decided to adopt a new and a unique model. Dell shut down its operating plants from Tennessee, Texas and North Carolina and shifted its new plants to India and Poland. The new geographical locations were changed to push down the costs. Furthermore, Dell also entered into the retail channel for the first time in its history. It chose different locations for its retail business like, Walmart from the US, Carrefour in Europe and Bic Camera in Japan. The company also decided to deduct its retail prices to $700. Not only this, the company also decided to revolutionize Dell’s Pc and laptop models by introducing beautiful bright laptops. Just at the end of 2000s, the company entered into the service industry by acquiring Perot, an IT service providing company. The step reminded people of IBM when it entered into the service industry from hardware industry.

Recommendations for Future

A better pricing strategy for developing economies

The emerging markets and growing countries like India, China and Brazil along with some other African nations are making huge inroads into the IT industry. (Mauro F. Guillén) Keeping an eye on the available and potential opportunities; the company can reduce its prices to increase its world market share from current position. (See exhibit 2) Price reduction can bring a massive sales boost to the company and help it gain a better chunk from the world market share. The already established competitors of Dell are also planning to establish themselves as world leader in computer hardware provider, hence a price war will affect all the stakeholders.

Dell Tablet Development

The tablet market was constantly speeding up since 2009 with company like Apple, which already came up with its own tablet called IPad.(Richter)(Exhibit 3) With this, Lenovo was also planning to establish itself in the tablet market. Therefore, it was the best time to set its foot firmly in the tablet market. Dell has an added advantage with its brand name which it can use for greater effect through its strong brand name. Dell doesn’t have to invest much in its advertisement as people already perceive Dell’s products to be quite reliable. To have greater success with the new venture, a collaboration of Dell with Microsoft can prove to be great for the business. Microsoft can help Dell to develop the software and provide other technical assistance to the firm when developing the tablet....

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