Case Study Dell 2
Direct from Dell-Strategies that Revolutionized an Industry
1. a. In a span of 20 years, from 1984, Michael Dell became the leader of one of the most profitable and innovative organizations in the world. The meteoric rise of Dell Computers Corporation was largely a result of some innovative strategies and perspectives and reveals a new model for doing business in the information age. Discuss the major mistakes made during this period and the resulting lessons learnt by Dell.
First mistake, though minor one, if not corrected could have been major,
No Delegation. Corrected and a might have been major catastrophe averted.
Page 18.
Second mistake, first major one,
Excess inventory.
In 1989, Buying large no. of 256KB memory chips , and while they were in the inventory , new memory chips have been invented with 1MB. , and these became obsolete. Huge losses occurred. Organization sustained barely, because it is large enough, and loss even though major , not major enough to wipe out company.
Page 37
Second major mistake
Nov 1989
Product Olympic
Lessons learnt
Stick to the original 3 golden principles
1)Disdain Inventory
2)Listen to what Customer wants and build it( don’t imagine what he wants and waste time and money)
3)Never sell indirect
Page 59
Mistake Small, but Corrected, after some time, with no loss, no profit
Page43
b. How did Michael Dell’s vision, personal traits and leadership style shape the way in which Dell Corporation operates today?
Dell’s main philosophy, or trait, as one normally calls it. If you believe it, you execute it. If it fails, at least you would have learned why it failed, and one might correct it next time.
His leadership style, is don’t announce that you are a leader, let them decide it for themselves. Everybody should learn, and from everybody, so learn, but learn what might be useful to you. The best source is your customers. Next is your employees, next is your competitors, next is technology, predicting the trend and path, and
1. a. In a span of 20 years, from 1984, Michael Dell became the leader of one of the most profitable and innovative organizations in the world. The meteoric rise of Dell Computers Corporation was largely a result of some innovative strategies and perspectives and reveals a new model for doing business in the information age. Discuss the major mistakes made during this period and the resulting lessons learnt by Dell.
First mistake, though minor one, if not corrected could have been major,
No Delegation. Corrected and a might have been major catastrophe averted.
Page 18.
Second mistake, first major one,
Excess inventory.
In 1989, Buying large no. of 256KB memory chips , and while they were in the inventory , new memory chips have been invented with 1MB. , and these became obsolete. Huge losses occurred. Organization sustained barely, because it is large enough, and loss even though major , not major enough to wipe out company.
Page 37
Second major mistake
Nov 1989
Product Olympic
Lessons learnt
Stick to the original 3 golden principles
1)Disdain Inventory
2)Listen to what Customer wants and build it( don’t imagine what he wants and waste time and money)
3)Never sell indirect
Page 59
Mistake Small, but Corrected, after some time, with no loss, no profit
Page43
b. How did Michael Dell’s vision, personal traits and leadership style shape the way in which Dell Corporation operates today?
Dell’s main philosophy, or trait, as one normally calls it. If you believe it, you execute it. If it fails, at least you would have learned why it failed, and one might correct it next time.
His leadership style, is don’t announce that you are a leader, let them decide it for themselves. Everybody should learn, and from everybody, so learn, but learn what might be useful to you. The best source is your customers. Next is your employees, next is your competitors, next is technology, predicting the trend and path, and
References: http://www.beknowledge.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/c4ca4Case%20Study%20-%20Dell%20Computer%20Corporation%20-%20Strategy%20and%20Challenges.pdf William Lazer and Eugene J Kelly, Managerial Marketing: Perspectives and Viewpoints, 1962 William M Pride and O C Ferrel, Marketing: Concepts and Strategies, Houton Mifflin Company, 2000. Creating the Culture for Innovation”R. Moss Kanter, in F. Hesselbein, M. Goldsmith, & I. Somerville (eds.), Leading for Innovation(San Francisco, 2002), pp.73-8 Leading Quietly: An Unorthodox Guide to Doing the Right Thing(Harvard, 2002), J.J