Dell Operations Strategy
Introduction
The global and industry issues companies face, combined with the current turbulent financial and economic environment, are challenging even the best companies to remain focused on their core capabilities, customers and markets. To be successful in an uncertain environment, a company must make the right choices that enable it to develop distinctive capabilities and remain highly relevant to its customers and markets. Because of these changes of responses to customers, cooperation among departments becomes crucial and it is necessary to manage processes across the organization to promote cooperation swiftly.
Taking Dell as a case study, this paper focuses on the operational methods and strategies both inside and outside the corporation and how they are managed under the competitive environment in the IT era. The choice of Dell stems from the fact that it provides an appropriate case of how the management of operational processes across the organization, utilizing IT effectively, may lead to competitive advantage. First, this paper surveys Dell’s business model. Then, it analyzes process management to support the model from the perspectives of “process management inside the corporation” and “process strategy outside the corporation.”
Company Background
Dell Inc. is an American, multinational Information Technology corporation based in Texas, United States. Founded in 1984 and named after its founder, Michael Dell, the company has become one of the largest IT corporations in the world, employing over 96,000 people worldwide (U.S Security and Exchange Commission annual report, 2010). With total revenue amounting to $52.9 billion, Dell was listed as the 38th largest company in the United States and the 5th largest company in Texas by Fortune Magazine in May 2010.
Products and Services
Dell offers a broad range of product categories, including mobility products, desktop PCs, software and peripherals, servers and networking, and storage. Its
The global and industry issues companies face, combined with the current turbulent financial and economic environment, are challenging even the best companies to remain focused on their core capabilities, customers and markets. To be successful in an uncertain environment, a company must make the right choices that enable it to develop distinctive capabilities and remain highly relevant to its customers and markets. Because of these changes of responses to customers, cooperation among departments becomes crucial and it is necessary to manage processes across the organization to promote cooperation swiftly.
Taking Dell as a case study, this paper focuses on the operational methods and strategies both inside and outside the corporation and how they are managed under the competitive environment in the IT era. The choice of Dell stems from the fact that it provides an appropriate case of how the management of operational processes across the organization, utilizing IT effectively, may lead to competitive advantage. First, this paper surveys Dell’s business model. Then, it analyzes process management to support the model from the perspectives of “process management inside the corporation” and “process strategy outside the corporation.”
Company Background
Dell Inc. is an American, multinational Information Technology corporation based in Texas, United States. Founded in 1984 and named after its founder, Michael Dell, the company has become one of the largest IT corporations in the world, employing over 96,000 people worldwide (U.S Security and Exchange Commission annual report, 2010). With total revenue amounting to $52.9 billion, Dell was listed as the 38th largest company in the United States and the 5th largest company in Texas by Fortune Magazine in May 2010.
Products and Services
Dell offers a broad range of product categories, including mobility products, desktop PCs, software and peripherals, servers and networking, and storage. Its