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How Dell’s strategy transformed it from a doomed player to leading the data revolution

Table of contents, here’s what you’ll learn from dell's strategy study:.

  • How to sustain your company’s growth beyond its initial success.
  • How a sober bet for the future fuels your conviction to win.
  • How to think long-term and not sacrifice your future for short-term benefits.

Dell Technologies is a multinational technology company that designs, develops, and sells a wide range of products and services, including personal computers (PCs), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, and cloud solutions.

The general public owns 58% of Dell Technologies, while private equity firms and institutions own the rest. Michael Dell is the founder, chairman, and current CEO.

study case dell

Dell's market share and key statistics:

  • Brand value of $26,5 billion
  • Net Worth of $28.7 billion as of Jan 13, 2023
  • Annual revenue of $105.3 billion for 2022
  • Total number of employees: 133.000
  • Total assets worldwide: $93 billion in 2022

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Humble beginnings: How did Dell start?

The story of every company starts with the story of its founder.

Usually, a great company has a great founder story behind it. And Dell Technologies certainly has one. Michael Dell’s story goes hand in hand with the story of the company he founded. By understanding the story of Michael, we can understand the company’s initial advantages and opportunities it pursued.

And like every great tech company story, Dell’s story starts in a college dorm room.

From stamps to startups: Michael Dell's early years and the birth of Dell

Michael Dell founded the company in college, but his entrepreneurial journey started much earlier.

He had an early interest in technology and business, and by the age of 12, he was already buying and selling stamps and coins to make extra money. As a teenager, he worked summer jobs where he learned by trial and error how demand and supply worked, how to be efficient, how to segment the market, and determine the most profitable persona to sell.

By the time he graduated from high school, he had saved up enough money to buy his own BMW and his first personal computer, an Apple and later an IBM.

But he was curious about the inner workings of these machines and, to his parents' horror, he took them apart, learning about the different components and how they worked together. He soon made a crucial discovery. IBM DIDN’T manufacture its own parts. Instead, it sourced them from other companies. This sparked an idea in Michael's mind - he could build his own PCs using the same components but at a lower cost and higher quality.

That idea didn’t come out of the blue.

study case dell

Michael Dell was constantly educating himself on computers, how to build them, how they worked, and how to code. He followed all computer magazines at the time and attended every event in his neighborhood to network and learn the latest about the industry. In high school, he was already an expert, modifying his own PC and, once the word spread, customizing the PCs of professionals.

His first customers were friends and acquaintances who were impressed by his knowledge and expertise. Michael quickly realized that there was a demand for customized computers that were not available in the market. He began assembling machines with increased storage capacity and memory at a fraction of the cost of buying from big brands like IBM.

Doctors and lawyers were among his early customers, and word-of-mouth about Michael's high-quality and affordable PCs spread quickly.

He eliminated the middleman by buying components directly and assembling the machines himself, which allowed him to offer lower prices and better performance. By the end of his first year in college, Michael had a vendor's license, he was winning bids against established companies in the industry, and he incorporated his first company, “ Dell Computer Corporation .”

Dell’s direct-to-consumer strategy & how its corporate culture was formed

The company was growing frightfully fast, forcing the team to constantly change and evolve its processes.

Before the company had its second birthday, they had moved to bigger offices three times to accommodate its increased inventory, growing telephone needs, and physical or electronic systems. However, the company was still a high-risk venture and had a small capacity for expensive mistakes.

In those early days, the challenges Dell faced formed its processes and the core traits of its culture that are present to this day:

  • Practicality and reduced bureaucracy. They did some things unconventionally, like having salespeople set up their own computers. That way, they gained first-hand knowledge of the technology and the customer’s pain problems (customers and salespeople were uneducated on the technology, so they shared the same problems).
  • A “can-do” and “I’ll-pitch-in” attitude. Employees took substantial liberties with their “responsibilities.” Engineers would help with the overloaded manufacturing line, everyone would answer phone calls, salespeople would fulfill orders while taking new ones, etc.
  • A sense of making a difference. Money was tight, so Dell employees wouldn’t mind solving secondary “needs” with cheap solutions like using cardboard boxes to throw their trash because they didn’t have trash cans.
  • Direct relationships with the customers. Maybe one of the most important aspects of Dell’s culture and strategy. The company was talking at the same time with prospects and current customers on the phone. That way, it got first-hand feedback on what the market was currently asking for and was enjoying or not enjoying. That gave birth to Dell’s  “Direct Model.”

study case dell

The company went to great lengths to build and maintain the direct model because it was one of its most important sources of competitive advantage. Where other companies had to guess what to build next, Dell was already on it because their customers were telling them.

There were clear advantages to the Direct model:

  • Closed feedback loop. Dell was talking directly to prospects – no dealer costs – and had no need for inventory. Lower costs = lower prices = more customers. And with every new customer, Dell had another finger on the pulse of the market.
  • A single salesforce. Focused solely on the end customer. There was no need to have salespeople to sell to dealers and then additional salespeople to sell to the customer.
  • Specialization in sales. Dell sold to large corporations, and smaller customers, like SMBs, educational institutions, and individual consumers. But selling to these two different buyers, large corporations and SMBs, was incomparable. So, the company had different salespeople for different customer segments and thus offering the best customer support and experience.

But the model wasn’t without its disadvantages:

  • The model wasn’t irreplicable. Dell was making IBM-compatible PCs and selling them directly to customers. This model wasn’t hard to replicate, and the market’s conditions favored the birth of competitors with the same model.
  • Lack of credibility. It’s hard to make a $5,000 sale when the customer has never heard of you and you lack a physical store.
  • Incompatibility. Dell’s PC had to be compatible with IBM’s. But they had multiple suppliers for their components and sometimes those components were incompatible. Designing high-quality machines that were outperforming and compatible with IBM’s was a challenge.

But these disadvantages didn’t stop the team. The company doubled down on customer support and service and developed a strong reputation around them. It advertised a 30-day money-back guarantee and educated its suppliers to make components based on Dell designs. They even started their first R&D attempts that gave them a  12-MHz  that was faster than IBM’s latest model, cheaper, and got them on the cover of the most prestigious magazine in the industry, the  PC Week .

Dell’s strategy was so effective that phone calls started coming in, urging them to accept capital and go public.

Only three years after the company’s birth in a college dorm room, Dell went public, raising $30 million with a market valuation of $85 million.

Key Takeaway #1: Build a coherent strategy beyond your initial differentiator to sustain growth

Most companies enjoy initial success due to an untapped opportunity in the market, from addressing a niche market to exploiting the weaknesses of major players.

But no company succeeds at growing beyond the limits of the initial opportunity if it doesn’t evolve and expand its competitive advantage. So when evaluating your next move, ask yourself:

  • What is our current competitive advantage?
  • How easily can our competition replicate it?
  • How can we make it harder (if we can)?
  • How can we expand our capabilities to strengthen our current competitive advantage?
  • How can we develop new competitive advantages?
  • What are the market trends and how can we adapt/take advantage of them before others?

The occasional bold move doesn’t hurt, either.

Recommended reading:   6 Competitive Analysis Frameworks: How to Leave Your Competition In the Dust

How Dell’s privatization led to a strategic triumph

In the first decade of the new millennium, the PC business was growing rapidly.

Computing power followed  Moore’s Law  and innovation cycles in hardware were less than 12 months long. At the same time, a new generation of software was spreading and the World Wide Web was expanding globally. Being a part of a growing industry, like the PC business back then, was lucrative. So naturally, many companies did well.

Dell was one of them. In 2000, the company became the world’s largest seller of PCs, having enjoyed a decade of skyrocketing sales.

However, in 2011, things changed. The PC global sales reached their peak and the next year was the first of an 8-year streak of decline that lasted until the pandemic hit.

That decline impacted Dell severely.

Navigating decline: Dell's strategy for a shrinking market

Dell was in deep trouble at the start of the previous decade:

  • It had lost its position as a top PC seller in the US to its main competitor, HP.
  • It came third in the global PC market share, behind HP and ACER.

Many believed that it was a dying company that would perish like Kodak or Motorola.

The PC market was shrinking and some experts were saying it was the beginning of its end. Dell was expected to be among the first casualties. The truth was that the PC industry wasn’t dying, but it was evolving – it was losing some of its traits and gaining new ones. The difference is subtle but also key. In a competitive arena, every alert player is aware of the market changes: declining sales, emerging trends, and other important facts. But how each player interprets them determines whether they’ll  formulate a winning strategy  or not.

The more substantial the changes, the more important the interpretation.

study case dell

In 2012, the fact was that the PC business was declining. Every major player could see it with a single glance at their balance sheet. In Dell's case, the decline was even direr since its PC sales were down by double digits. The company desperately needed to turn things around. And only a bold strategic move could do that.

The company tried to bounce back up with some obvious but desperate moves:

  • The introduction of the Streak “phablet.” An embarrassing attempt at creating a new product category between tablets and smartphones. Its design was bulky and its Android software unsuitable for the device, while its purpose was unclear to the consumer.
  • Making Windows 8 its default operating system. Dell and Microsoft have been longtime partners, to the benefit of both companies. Unfortunately, their growing interdependence meant that when one failed, it dragged the other one down. Windows 8 failure dragged down Dell and further decreased its PC market share.
  • Attempts to enter the tablet and smartphone markets: the “Venue” debacle. Dell was always viewed as a PC company, not a technology company, making it harder to expand to new categories. Its first smartphone, the  Venue , ran on Windows Mobile and it never got any traction. As a result, the company abandoned the categories and, even today, it has less than negligible presence in these markets.

But where people saw a vulnerable company, Michael Dell saw an opportunity.

He had an assumption, a vision attached to it, and a plan to make it a reality. But he had no way to execute it with the company’s organizational structure at the time.

The obstacles to implementing Dell's competitive strategy

Dell’s strategy was to go on the offensive. He wanted the company to be highly aggressive by:

  • Becoming competitive in the PC business again.
  • Expanding its services and software solutions.
  • Increasing its sales capacity.

Dell aimed to achieve these goals by investing heavily in R&D, gaining tighter control over its PC and server prices, and expanding its sales workforce. The idea was to fund new business capabilities in the software and services space from Dell's PC segment. That was a bold plan that involved a lot of changes and, thus, a lot of risks.

Dell’s strategy was essentially a  business transformation  proposal.

And although a lot of public companies have successfully gone through a transformation, none did it in such a short period of time without sacrificing the short-term faith of its shareholders. And that was exactly the problem.

The strategy was inherently risky – like every  good strategy  is – as it promised capital expenditure and an immediate decrease in profitability due to increased operating expenses. Things shareholders hate. And if shareholders aren’t happy with the company’s near-term returns, they start selling their shares, and the company loses its value and a good portion of its funding capabilities. 

Short-term risk = lower share prices = less funding for the company

Thus, the strategy was impossible to execute without the support of the shareholders. So the company had only two options: gain the support of the shareholders or go private.

Dell chose to go private.

Dell's game-changing decision was based on a strategic bet

For a gigantic public company with a market cap of nearly $20 billion, going private is a tough decision and a complicated process.

But it was an unavoidable preliminary for the successful execution of Michael Dell’s plan. And the first step was to convince the board of the necessity of the transformation. After announcing his idea, the board started discussions with experts to evaluate the move, i.e. top consulting agencies and other independent third parties.

JP Morgan , Boston Consulting Group, Evercore, and Debevoise were some of the names involved. And they all shared the same view:

  • The PC is dying.
  • Funding a business transformation from a declining business is a bad idea (despite such successful attempts from  IBM  and  BMW  in the past).

The experts had a lot of facts and strong arguments to support their case. However, all of them were based on a single assumption:  tablets and smartphones will replace the dying PC . The growth in those categories would entail a decline in the PC business. They believed the PC was about to be cannibalized.

Dell’s CEO disagreed. What was his assumption?

He believed that tablets and smartphones wouldn’t take away from PCs but rather add to it. He believed that the PC’s central role in productivity and business wasn’t going to be dethroned by the new shiny toys. People would buy and use tablets and smartphones, but PCs would remain their primary productivity tool.

And he would bet Dell’s future on it.

But he had to convince the board of directors first. At the start, conversations were happening in secret and things were moving slowly but steadily. But when the idea was leaked, two new problems presented themselves.

The first was Carl Icahn, who contested for the ownership of Dell.  Carl Icahn is a self-proclaimed “activist investor” but others call him a “corporate raider.” The closer the go-private initiative was to happen, the more Carl Icahn fought for it. And he used every improper tool and method he could muster. The battle that followed between Carl and Michael delayed the deal and almost derailed it.

The second was Dell’s customers’ hesitation in doing business with the company.  The rumors about the go-private initiative left the customers wondering about the future of Dell and doubted whether any kind of investment in it was worth it. They were suspending purchases and all Dell’s leadership could say was, “We don’t comment on rumors and speculations.”

The press had also concluded that the go-private initiative was a declaration of Michael Dell’s incompetence and a desperate attempt to keep Wall Street’s eyes away from its demise.

History would prove them wrong and crown Michael Dell victorious.

A new chapter: How Dell's go-private move set the stage for future success

The deal happened.

In February 2013, Michael Dell and the investment firm of Silver Lake took Dell private in a leveraged buyout of $24.4 billion, at $13.65 a share.

Despite all the time that passed until Dell could fully execute its strategy, the company didn’t remain idle. It had made several calculated moves to significantly reduce its dependence on the declining PC market before the deal conversations ever happened.

From 2007 to 2012, Dell spent north of $12.40 billion in key acquisitions to increase its enterprise software and hardware solutions, including cloud data storage and management. The acquisitions focused on areas like:

  • Data storage
  • Systems management
  • Data management in healthcare
  • Cutting edge software

The company had already started severing the connection between its financial health and its PC market share many years ahead of its privatization.

But after the buyout, it went all in. Speed and agility became its prominent advantages. Dell became, nearly overnight, a hungry, quick, and ready-to-attack-its-prey jackal. Whenever a new opportunity arose and people asked for resources to pursue it, leadership committed double the resources and said, "Go faster!"

For example, SMBs (small and medium businesses) presented a gigantic opportunity. So the company increased its sales workforce, retrained its existing salespeople, and hit endless SMB doors. They would enter a business selling their low-margin PCs and simultaneously become their trusted advisor on all things tech. Then they sold their whole portfolio of solutions.

And the morale of employees was off the charts. Leadership kept their promises on the changes and provided all the support their people needed to execute the plan.

In addition, people started viewing PC and smartphones as complementary, just as Dell expected.

Was Michael Dell’s bet a good one? Well…

45% of Dell’s revenue was generated from PC sales, but 80% or more of its profits were generated by its new solutions. Eight years after the privatization, the value of their equity had increased more than 625% and their enterprise value reached $100 billion.

We’re pretty confident that’s a yes.

Key Takeaway #2: Successful strategic bets require a sober conviction

Markets change and evolve all the time. The difference between players that emerge prosperous and those that struggle to fit in the new order of things isn’t the unique access to data.

No. Every alert player in your competitive zone has more or less the same access to market trends and changes. The difference lies in what you envision the future to be. That’s your bet.

That’s what a winning corporate strategy needs. And because bets are inherently risky, you require two things to place a successful bet:

  • Sobriety to envision what the future of your industry will look like.
  • Conviction to pursue that vision relentlessly.

Steering towards success: Dell's current strategy and the EMC merger

Michael Dell had foreseen the evolution of the technology industry since the 2000s.

Not the specifics, but the trend of PCs and hardware becoming less relevant – or at least less profitable – and software, the cloud, and back-end taking the front seat. He realized (from very early on) that servers and storage management would become a huge concern for large enterprises building (or upgrading) their IT infrastructure.

Dell anticipated the market’s needs by making a simple observation: the quantity of data in the world expanded exponentially and the traditional way of data management would require server performance that wasn’t physically possible to achieve. But he knew there was a solution underway: virtualization – software that mimics the computer, creating virtual mainframes within the physical mainframe.

That’s why the company had started investing in these technologies since 2001.

Achieving synergy: Dell's competitive strategy and the merger with EMC and VMware

Dell, EMC, and VMware are three major players in the technology industry with distinct but complementary offerings.

EMC  had a successful product in networked information storage systems, i.e. a database management system for enterprises.

VMware  was pioneering in virtualization, allowing users to run multiple operating systems on the same device.

Dell  had an established distribution network and a series of back-end solutions that could expand and fit well with the former technologies.

The relationship between these three companies started in 2001. Dell and EMC entered a strategic alliance to rule a market of $100 billion worth by 2005.

study case dell

For EMC, the alliance was a one-stone-three-birds initiative.  First,  it offered a lucrative distribution channel to customers their competitors were already targeting.  Second,  it ensured Dell wouldn’t partner with a competitor.  And third,  it reduced its supply costs for components.

For Dell, it also had a threefold benefit.  First,  It added high-performing products to a rapidly growing business.  Second,  it gave it an important customer – EMC was using Dell’s servers.  And third,  it allowed Dell to infiltrate deeper into enterprise data centers.

A strategic alliance that gave both Dell and EMC a competitive edge.

Then EMC bought VMware. That gave the company massive capabilities around cloud infrastructure services ending up being a very lucrative move. Dell, which had invested in VMware back in 2002, saw a massive opportunity to acquire the new EMC.

So Dell and EMC first began discussions of a potential partnership back in 2008, but the idea was ultimately shelved due to the financial crisis. However, in 2014, Dell revisited the idea as both companies had grown and become leaders in their respective industries.

Dell saw the potential for a merger as the two companies' services would bring significant value to their customers when combined. EMC's CEO, Joe Tucci, agreed with this assessment, but they still had to convince EMC's board. EMC was publicly held while Dell was private, and as soon as the idea was on the table, Dell found itself competing with two other interested parties, Cisco Systems and HP. In fact, HP nearly succeeded in acquiring EMC.

It failed due to a financial disagreement. So Dell jumped on the opportunity.

By then, EMC had grown tremendously and had eliminated any short- to mid-term potential start-up disruptors by acquiring them. EMC’s three businesses were uniquely complementary to Dell’s solutions:

  • EMC Information structure , a leader in the data storage system market.
  • VMware , the undisputed leader in virtualization.
  • Pivotal , a start-up with a platform to develop cloud software.

However, the acquisition was a tough process. EMC had grown to a market cap of over $60 billion. It was impossible for Dell to fund an acquisition. Instead, the two companies merged.

The merger happened through a complex but effective financial plan, and the synergies created by the combined company increased revenue significantly. A year after the merger was initiated, the added revenue was well above expectations. This allowed Dell to pay down a significant portion of its debt and improve its financial standing and investment rating. The success of the merger led the company to simplify its structure and align the interests of the stakeholders of the three companies.

In 2018, Dell went public again as a very different entity than its first IPO, uniquely equipped to lead the 5-S sectors:  services, software, storage, servers, and security.

What is Dell’s business strategy’s primary focus today?

Dell aspires to become a leading player in the data era by providing a wide range of solutions, products, and services.

Excluding VMware, Dell is divided into two main business segments supported by its financial subsidiary:

  • The Infrastructure Solutions Group ISG helps customers with their  digital transformation  by providing multi-cloud and big data solutions that are built on modern data center infrastructure. These solutions are designed to work in multi-cloud environments and can handle workloads in public and private clouds as well as on-premise.
  • The Client Solutions Group CSG focuses on providing solutions for clients such as laptops, desktops, and other end-user devices. ‍
  • Dell Financial Services DFS supports Dell businesses by providing financial options and services to customers according to the company’s flexible consumption models. Through DFS, the company tries to tailor its financial options to each customer’s way of consuming Dell’s solutions.

Dell's core offerings include servers, storage solutions, virtualization software, and networking solutions. The company is constantly investing in research and development, sales and other key areas to improve its products and solutions and to drive long-term growth.

Its primary strategic priorities are:

  • Improving and modernizing its current offerings in the markets it operates in.
  • Expanding into new growth areas such as Edge computing, telecommunications, data management, and as-a-service consumption models.

And its plan involves several key  initiatives :

  • Developing its flexible consumption models and as-a-Service options to customers to meet their financial needs and expectations.
  • Building momentum in recurring revenue streams through multi-year agreements.
  • Investing in R&D to develop scalable technology solutions and incorporating AI and machine-learning technology. Since its Fiscal year 2020, the R&D budget is consistently at least $2.5 billion. Most of it goes towards developing the software that powers its solutions.
  • Collaborating with a global network of technology companies for product development and integration of new technologies.
  • Investing in early-stage, privately-held companies through Dell Technologies Capital.

Although Dell has a coherent strategy to achieve its objectives, competition isn’t idle nor trivial in the core competitive arenas. The company faces a significant risk that includes:

  • Failure to achieve intended benefits regarding the VMware spin-off.
  • Competition providing products and services that are cheaper and perform better.
  • Delays in products, components, or software deliveries from single-source or limited-source suppliers.
  • Inability to effectively execute its  business strategy  (transitioning sales capabilities, expanding solutions capabilities through acquisitions, etc.) and implement its cost efficiency measures.

The technological advances are rapid, and players are in a constant race to innovate not only on the technologies they provide but on their business models and all of their services and solutions. Emerging players and strategic relationships between competitors could easily shift the competitive landscape before the company finds a way to react.

Key Takeaway #3: When making transformational decisions, prioritize thinking long-term

A major acquisition, or a merger, between industry leaders is a bet on the industry’s future.

If you believe in the bet long-term, don’t sacrifice a good move for short-term returns, as HP did with EMC. Instead, do your due diligence in the consideration phase:

  • Consider real alternatives.
  • Understand deeply how the capabilities of both companies will be improved.
  • Validate your assumptions with current market needs and trends.
  • Move faster than the competition.

Why is Dell so successful?

One of the key reasons Dell has been so successful is Michael Dell’s intuition and strategic instinct.

He demonstrated a consistent ability to take an accurate pulse of the market, make a winning bet and chase it relentlessly by performing a business transformation. Additionally, Dell never lost one of its core strategic strengths: building strong relationships with its customers by providing excellent customer support and tailored solutions to meet their unique needs. The company has also been successful in streamlining its  operations  and supply chain, which has allowed it to offer competitive prices and high-quality products.

Dell puts the customer first and makes strategic pivots with perfect timing.

How Dell’s vision guides its steps

According to Dell’s annual report, its vision is:

“To become the most essential technology company for the data era. We seek to address our customers’ evolving needs and their broader digital

transformation objectives as they embrace today’s hybrid multi-cloud environment.”

And their two strategic priorities, growing core offerings and pursuing new opportunities, are their roadmap to achieving it.

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Case study: Dell—Distribution and supply chain innovation

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Read the highlights

  • Cutting out the middleman can work very well.
  • Forgoing the retail route can increase customer value.
  • Re-examine & improve efficiency for process/operations.
  • Use sales data and customer feedback to get ahead of the curve.

In 1983, 18-year-old Michael Dell left college to work full-time for the company he founded as a freshman, providing hard-drive upgrades to corporate customers. In a year’s time, Dell’s venture had $6 million in annual sales. In 1985, Dell changed his strategy to begin offering built-to-order computers. That year, the company generated $70 million in sales. Five years later, revenues had climbed to $500 million, and by the end of 2000, Dell’s revenues had topped an astounding $25 billion. The meteoric rise of Dell Computers was largely due to innovations in supply chain and manufacturing, but also due to the implementation of a novel distribution strategy. By carefully analyzing and making strategic changes in the personal computer value chain, and by seizing on emerging market trends, Dell Inc. grew to dominate the PC market in less time than it takes many companies to launch their first product.

No more middleman: Dell started out as a direct seller, first using a mail-order system, and then taking advantage of the Internet to develop an online sales platform. Well before use of the Internet went mainstream, Dell had begun integrating online order status updates and technical support into their customer-facing operations. By 1997, Dell’s Internet sales had reached an average of $4 million per day . While most other PCs were sold preconfigured and pre-assembled in retail stores, Dell offered superior customer choice in system configuration at a deeply discounted price, due to the cost-savings associated with cutting out the retail middleman. This move away from the traditional distribution model for PC sales played a large role in Dell’s formidable early growth. Additionally, an important side-benefit of the Internet-based direct sales model was that it generated a wealth of market data the company used to efficiently forecast demand trends and carry out effective segmentation strategies. This data drove the company’s product development efforts and allowed Dell to profit from information on the value drivers in each of its key customer segments.

Virtual integration: On the manufacturing side, the company pursued an aggressive strategy of “virtual integration.” Dell required a highly reliable supply of top-quality PC components, but management did not want to integrate backward to become its own parts manufacturer. Instead, the company sought to develop long-term relationships with select, name-brand PC component manufacturers. Dell also required its key suppliers to establish inventory hubs near its own assembly plants. This allowed the company to communicate with supplier inventory hubs in real time for the delivery of a precise number of required components on short notice. This “just-in-time,” low-inventory strategy reduced the time it took for Dell to bring new PC models to market and resulted in significant cost advantages over the traditional stored-inventory method. This was particularly powerful in a market where old inventory quickly fell into obsolescence. Dell openly shared its production schedules, sales forecasts and plans for new products with its suppliers. This strategic closeness with supplier partners allowed Dell to reap the benefits of vertical integration, without requiring the company to invest billions setting up its own manufacturing operations in-house.

Innovation on the assembly floor: In 1997, Dell reorganized its assembly processes. Rather than having long assembly lines with each worker repeatedly performing a single task, Dell instituted “manufacturing cells.” These “cells” grouped workers together around a workstation where they assembled entire PCs according to customer specifications. Cell manufacturing doubled the company’s manufacturing productivity per square foot of assembly space, and reduced assembly times by 75%. Dell combined operational and process innovation with a revolutionary distribution model to generate tremendous cost-savings and unprecedented customer value in the PC market. The following are some key lessons from the story of Dell’s incredible rise:

1. Disintermediation (cutting out the middleman): Deleting a player in the distribution chain is a risky move, but can result in a substantial reduction in operating costs and dramatically improved margins. Some companies that have surged ahead after they eliminated an element in the traditional industry distribution chain include:

  • Expedia (the online travel site that can beat the rates of almost any travel agency, while giving customers more choice and more detailed information on their vacation destination)
  • ModCloth (a trendy virtual boutique with no bricks-and-mortar retail outlets to drive up costs)
  • PropertyGuys.com (offers a DIY kit for homeowners who want to sell their houses themselves)
  • iTunes (an online music purchasing platform that won’t have you sifting through a jumble of jewel cases at your local HMV)
  • Amazon.com (an online sales platform that allows small-scale buyers and sellers to access a broad audience without the need for an expensive storefront or a custom website)
  • Netflix (the no-late-fees online video rental company that will ship your chosen video rentals right to your door)

2. Enhancing customer value: Forgoing the retail route allowed Dell to simultaneously improve margins while offering consumers a better price on their PCs. This move also gave customers a chance to configure PCs according to their specific computing needs. The dramatic improvement in customer value that resulted from Dell’s unique distribution strategy propelled the company to a leading market position.

3. Process and operations innovation: Michael Dell recognized that “the way things had always been done” wasn’t the best or most efficient way to run things at his company. There are countless examples where someone took a new look at a company process and realized that there was a much better way to get things done. It is always worth re-examining process-based work to see if a change could improve efficiency. This is equally true whether you’re a company of five or 500.

4. Let data do the driving: Harnessing the easily accessible sales and customer feedback data that resulted from online sales allowed Dell to stay ahead of the demand curve in the rapidly evolving PC market. Similarly, sales and feedback data were helpful in discovering new ways to enhance customer value in each of Dell’s key customer segments. Whether your company is large or small, it is essential to keep tabs on metrics that could reveal emerging trends, changing attitudes, and other important opportunities for your company.

See additional learning materials for distribution .

Summary: Dell combined operational and process innovation with a revolutionary distribution model to generate tremendous cost-savings and unprecedented customer value in the PC market.

Read next: customer discovery: identifying effective distribution channels for your startup.

Strickland, T. (1999). Strategic Management, Concepts and Cases . McGraw Hill College Division: New York.

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Putting Purpose Into Practice: The Economics of Mutuality

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24 Dell: The Business Case for a Sustainable Supply Chain

  • Published: March 2021
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The computer manufacturer Dell runs the world’s largest electronics take-back programme. It has recovered more than 800,000 tonnes of electronics since 2008. In the case of individual consumers it partners with freight companies in retrieving equipment from consumers’ homes and partners with Goodwill, a not-for-profit organization that seeks to make people independent through education and training, in running 2,000 locations across the United States where consumers can drop off any brand of used electronics. The article points to the commercial as well as the environmental savings resulting from the recycling programme and describes the process by which Dell has been able to achieve this.

Introduction

Dell is one of the world’s largest computer manufacturers and technology companies. The company sells a wide range of IT hardware, software products, and services for enterprise, government, small business, and consumer markets. 1 As a privately held company, Dell has the freedom to pursue a longer time horizon and to commit to changing how it uses its resources. The principle of efficiency is central to the Dell business model and informs the company’s approach to resources, sourcing, and waste management.

Pain Points in the Ecosystem

Dell’s commitment to efficiency has prompted the company to take on the timely challenge of improving e-waste disposal throughout its business.

E-waste, that is, discarded electrical and electronic equipment, is the world’s fastest-growing waste stream. 2 Rapid technology innovation and ever-shortening product lifespans are contributing to the increase of e-waste. 3 According to a United Nations’ University report, the amount of global e-waste reached 41.8 million tonnes in 2014. 4 To compound matters, e-waste has a low overall recycling rate, which means that unwanted equipment remains unused.

Responsible e-waste disposal is not only important from an environmental perspective, but also makes good economic sense. 5 Vast amounts of gold, for example, exit the economy due to low recycling rates, but increasingly there is an opportunity to recapture that value, as a tonne of computer motherboards contains more gold in it than a tonne of gold ore. In terms of scale, the material value of global e-waste was estimated to be €48 billion in 2014 alone. 6 This underutilized resource has a vast ‘untapped potential to create a more sustainable, efficient product ecosystem’. 7

The circular economy takes the traditional, linear model of ‘take, make, and dispose’—which moves products from design to factory to consumer to landfill—and bends it into a more efficient closed-loop ecosystem. Unwanted used electronics can be taken back for refurbishment and then resold on the secondary market. Products beyond repair, or those that are no longer economical to repair, are recycled to allow for precious and scarce materials to be recovered. Recycled content can either be incorporated into the design and manufacturing of new products or sold for others to use.

Research shows that approximately 30 per cent of consumers have technology products lying around the house unused, and half of consumers are unsure about what to do with their old electronics. 8 According to Dell, similar situations exist with businesses warehousing old equipment. Take-back options make it easy for a wide variety of customers to dispose of their old electronic products in a responsible manner. This measure ensures that unwanted electronics get reused or, if at the end of life, properly recycled.

Plastic is one of the most useful and important materials in modern society. It is popular in computers due to its durability, ease of fabrication into complex shapes, and electrical insulation qualities. 9 However, plastic recycling remains challenging and, as a result, the material constitutes a major contributor to landfills and to nonpoint source pollution—pollution from many different sources. The production of traditional plastics also uses a substantial amount of fossil fuels. Manufacturing plastics from fuel is resource intensive, requires large amounts of energy, and releases relatively high levels of CO 2 emissions in the process. Recent research has shown that our current use of plastics will become unsustainable if we do not take steps to improve recycling and reduce plastics’ usage.

Using secondary, recycled plastic as feedstock for new computers presents one possible solution. With the fast pace of innovation and product upgrades in the ICT sector, recycled content can reduce the environmental toll of manufacturing with virgin materials. The circular economy and the development of secondary raw material markets are high on the European agenda. Nevertheless, it remains challenging to find a sufficient supply of high-quality post-consumer recycled plastics that meets the technical, economic, and aesthetic requirements of ICT products manufacturers. 10

In response, Dell is taking steps towards creating a ‘circular’ supply chain (see also Interface, Chapter 25 ). In addition to environmental concerns, the increased volatility in commodities and growing pressure on resources have alerted Dell to the business necessity of rethinking materials and energy use. 11 In 2013, Dell committed to putting a total of 50 million pounds weight of recycled materials back into its products by 2020. The company reached this goal at the beginning of 2017 and is continuing to scale its efforts.

For Dell, sourcing post-consumer recycled plastics from the market and building a new, stable closed-loop supply chain for plastics from used electronics collected through take-back programmes present viable and affordable alternatives to using virgin materials. Rather than focusing exclusively on individual challenges, Dell has taken steps to approach their supply chain from a broader, systemic perspective. Most recently, this has included expanding its efforts to also address precious metals, such as gold. Jennifer Allison, director of supply chain sustainability at Dell, summarizes the company’s current business strategy:

We’re talking about systems—not just products, programmes, or initiatives. Looking at the whole system is when change begins to make a significant difference. Technology is a great tool for measuring and analysing systems, understanding processes, and identifying inefficiencies. 12

In this way, Dell takes a whole ecosystem view of its product life cycles. This approach is transforming the design of products and services. Dell’s life-cycle approach aims to keep viable products and parts in circulation for longer periods of time. It also harnesses global efforts to reuse, refurbish, and resell products and parts to extend their lifetimes and to recycle them at the end of life.

Product design emphasizes ease of repair and recyclability from the beginning. Dell also looks continuously for ways to incorporate sustainable materials, such as recycled plastic and reclaimed carbon fibre, into products and packaging. 13

The Take-Back Programme

Dell has the world’s largest electronics take-back programme, which spans more than seventy-five countries and territories. The programme has recovered approximately 800,000 tonnes of electronics since 2008. For commercial customers, Dell offers a full-spectrum of logistics and disposal capabilities via the Asset Resale and Recycling Service. Current capabilities include data security, on-site shredding, recycling, and full traceability reporting. Dell also makes it easy for individual consumers to recycle by partnering with freight companies to provide free mail-back recycling of Dell-branded equipment. In many countries, the programme will even pick up used equipment from a customer’s home. 14

Another programme designed to make the recovery of obsolete electronics easier and more accessible is the Dell Reconnect Partnership with Goodwill, a not-for-profit organization committed to helping people become independent through education and training. The Reconnect Programme allows people to drop off any brand of used electronics to more than two thousand participating Goodwill locations across the United States. Dell Reconnect accepts any brand of computer equipment in any condition from consumers and provides free recycling services.

Dell returns all proceeds to Goodwill in order to help support Goodwill’s mission of putting people to work. 15 By participating in this initiative, customers simultaneously help protect the environment, benefit the community, and receive a receipt for tax purposes. In this way, the programme helps both the customers and the business.

The donated equipment has value as a whole system, as parts, and sometimes as raw materials such as metals, plastics, and glass. 16 If the equipment can be refurbished, Goodwill sells it. If not, the end-of-life product is sent to Wistron, one of Dell’s recycling partners, for asset recovery in the United States. Metals such as tin, gold, 17 and tungsten are re-sold in the commodities market. To complete the closed loop, plastics are sorted and shipped to China, turned into pellets, and mixed with virgin plastics for use in new Dell products. 18

Closed-Loop Recycled Plastic Supply Chain

Dell’s 2020 ‘Legacy of Good’ sustainability plan set the goal of incorporating 50 million pounds weight of post-consumer recycled-content plastics and other sustainable materials into Dell products by 2020. 19 Dell met this target ahead of schedule in early 2017.

It started with the launch of Dell’s closed-loop recycled plastics supply chain in 2014. Since then, the company has used more than 9,750 tonnes of closed-loop plastics in over 125 products. These products include flat-panel monitors, desktops, and all-in-one computers.

Run in conjunction with various supply chain partners, the programme consists of collecting, recycling, and using e-waste to make new Dell products. 20 It begins with sorting plastics out of the various take-back streams, further processing them, and then sending them to a manufacturing partner in Asia. The plastics are then melted down and moulded into new parts and computer components, thereby creating a closed-loop system. The whole process—from the time the equipment is received for recycling to the time the plastics are back in a customer’s hands as part of a new product—takes just under six months. The closed-loop system also provides businesses with a price more stable than the cost of virgin materials, which fluctuates with the price of oil. It also reduces the company’s dependence on those environmentally costly virgin materials. Furthermore, by reusing plastics already in circulation, Dell cuts down on e-waste, reduces carbon emissions, and helps drive a circular economy for IT. The closed-loop process yields an 11 per cent lower carbon footprint than a process using virgin materials, 21 and creates products that are better for the environment, which is increasingly what Dell customers demand. 22 Dell was also the first PC manufacturer (January 2018) to use recycled gold from e-waste in its products. Working with the data analyst TruCost, it found that this closed-loop process can cause 99 per cent less environmental damage and avoid $1.6 million in natural capital costs per kilogram processed (US$3.68 million for the pilot project alone) when compared to gold mining. The same study showed closed-loop process can avoid 41 times the social impacts of gold mining.

Dell’s leadership in recovering and reusing plastic from used computers constitutes an important step in moving the larger electronics industry towards a circular economy. Louise Koch, corporate sustainability director in EMEA for Dell, describes the impetus for initiating a closed-loop system:

Dell’s programme is driven by both an effort to improve efficiency—a principle that goes back to its founding ethos and business model—as well as a commitment to reducing environmental impact. 23

The use of closed-loop plastics may create a demand for plastic from used computers and thereby increase the level of plastic recycling from electronics. This, in turn, generates new jobs and opportunities for those in the nascent industry, all while staying true to Dell’s founding principles.

Challenges in Moving to a Closed-Loop Recycling System

In moving from the traditional take–make–dispose linear supply chain to a circular supply chain, Dell has had to overcome a number of hurdles.

One of the biggest challenges that Dell faced with the closed-loop recycling was identifying which types of plastic can be incorporated back into new products. As Scott O’Connell, director of environmental affairs for Dell, puts it, ‘When dealing with plastics, getting the properties equivalent or better to virgin materials isn’t easy…But this is a challenge we’ve been able to overcome with engineering know-how.’ 24 Dell worked with partners to test different approaches. Testing revealed that, due to mechanical and aesthetic considerations, a blend of recycled-content with virgin plastic produces the best outcomes.

Another challenge involves establishing a reliable closed-loop supply chain. As O’Connell describes, ‘We had to make sure that we had sufficient volume of product coming in to be able to yield enough plastics to put into a mainstream Dell product.’ 25 Supply of products and plastic derives from Dell’s own sources, which adds a greater degree of insight and security. However, for the closed-loop recycling to work and scale, Dell needs security of supply, which can be difficult to attain with fluctuating numbers of products collected through take-back. Shrinking form factors—the fact that there is less plastic per item recycled as electronics become smaller—further complicate the situation. Hence Dell needs to continue to drive increasing participation in take-back programmes, while at the same time exploring other means of acquiring recycled-content materials.

Transporting materials poses an additional challenge. Dell customers are all over the world, which means that take-back initiatives must accommodate the global scale. While Dell has a small closed-loop plastics supply chain in Europe already and is exploring ways to scale in other geographies, materials need to be collected in sufficiently large amounts to make shipping to a centralized processor worth the economic and environmental costs. This involves logistics, regulations, and other considerations. In some cases, even the definition of the material being moved can affect the viability of closed-loop efforts: is recycled plastic labelled as waste or a raw material, for example?

The final challenge for Dell is to demonstrate the benefits of closed-loop recycling to customers. Ultimately, the products look and perform exactly the same as those made from virgin materials. Dell must communicate the value proposition to customers by highlighting the amount of recycled content in the final product, the closed-loop nature of the materials, and the benefits to the customers’ own sustainability goals.

Performance

Since 2008, Dell has taken back more than 1.76 billion pounds (nearly 800,000 tonnes) of used electronics and since mid-2014, when Dell launched the closed-loop plastic recycling programme, it has created nearly 5,000 tonnes of plastics from recycled computer parts. Dell has saved more than $1.8 million from this process, and the carbon footprint of circular plastics is 11 per cent smaller than that associated with the manufacture of virgin plastics. Dell now uses circular plastics in approximately 125 products across millions of units globally.

Together with TruCost, Dell has completed an evaluation to understand the gains from moving away from virgin plastics. One of the most useful ways for companies to assess the risks associated with new initiatives is to quantify the environmental impacts generated by their activities—internal operations, upstream supply chain, and downstream product use and disposal—and then convert those impacts into monetary values. 26 The monetary value helps identify the value not captured in traditional financial markets and incorporates these considerations into decision-making. 27

Findings showed that Dell’s closed-loop plastic has a 44 per cent ($1.3 million annually) greater environmental benefit than virgin ABS plastic. 28 In particular, increased computer recycling lessened environmental impacts. The research found that recovering and recycling the used plastics from computers minimized ‘human health and ecotoxicity impacts’ and reduced the overall emission of hazardous substances. 29

Dell has also begun to incorporate social impact metrics into its valuation framework. 30 Emergent strategies such as analysing activities for their use of social and human capital are likely to be an area for further refinement and application in the future. 31 At present, Dell is combining both environmental and social impact metrics into its process in order to help tackle the challenge of responsible e-waste disposal.

On a global scale, there is still huge potential to scale up circular resource streams in the IT sector and beyond. Only 10 per cent of the plastics produced today are recovered—and more than 50 per cent end up in landfills.

Dell has increased the use of recycled materials (both closed-loop and traditional post-consumer recycled materials) in new products and plans to continue to scale the programme.

As Dell continues to scale the current programme, it will look to expand into reclaiming and reusing other materials. Dell has already had success with using reclaimed carbon fibre for products and is currently using recycled ocean plastics ink made from captured diesel emissions for packaging.

Dell will also look at how ocean plastics or other solutions can be used with products.

Dell will continue to measure social impact using the same methodology, updating models for collection totals to follow form-factor trends. It will report progress annually, building on this total toward a cumulative 2 billion pounds by 2020. 32

Dell continues to lead conversations with governments and industry partners about recycling and circular loops on a global scale. Dell is open to innovative collaborations with even more customers, partners, and governments in the coming years. Dell sees particular opportunities in creating partnerships in developing countries to strengthen this ecosystem.

Dell’s take-back programme presents a compelling example of the potential of circular economy and closed-loop systems to contribute to responsible, mutual business practices. Looking towards the future, creating closed-loop recycling programmes in developing countries represents a new frontier. Recycling products in the countries from which they are recovered brings skilled jobs, creates industry, and strengthens the local economy. 33 Using its proven abilities to leverage partnerships and government relationships to create the infrastructure needed for new programmes, Dell can continue driving a culture of recycling in communities around the world. 34 As Dell’s programme example highlights, collaborative approaches have the potential to create both financial and environmental savings for corporations and customers on a global scale.

‘Dell Inc. at a Glance,’ Company Profile, Vault.com, http://www.vault.com/company-profiles/computer-hardware/dell-inc/company-overview .

Center for Security Studies, http://isnblog.ethz.ch .

Baldé, C.P., Forti V., Gray, V., Kuehr, R., Stegmann, P. The Global E-waste Monitor – 2017, United Nations University (UNU), International Telecommunication Union (ITU) & International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), Bonn/Geneva/Vienna.

Rubin (2015).

Kitsara (2014).

Baldé et al. (date).

Anya Khalamayzer.(2017) “8 Ripple Effects of the Circular Economy in 2017”, Greenbiz, https://www.greenbiz.com/article/8-ripple-effects-circular-economy-2017 .

‘Switched on to Value,’ WRAP Report, November 2014, http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Switched%20on%20to%20Value%2012%202014.pdf .

‘Plastics: Key Materials for Innovation and Productivity in Major Appliances,’ American Plastics Council, http://infohouse.p2ric.org/ref/11/10437.pdf .

‘Best Practices in Recycled Plastic,’ DigitalEurope , August 2016, http://www.digitaleurope.org/DesktopModules/Bring2mind/DMX/Download.aspx?Command=CoreDownload&EntryId=2276&language=en-US&PortalId=0&TabId=353 .

‘Best Practices in Recycled Plastic,’ DigitalEurope .

‘Full Circle’, Institute for Supply Management, October 2016—Lisa Arnseth interview with Jennifer Allison.

‘Dell on the Circular Economy’, March 2016, http://i.dell.com/sites/content/corporate/corp-comm/en/Documents/circular-economy-0316.pdf .

‘Dell Recycling,’ Dell Inc., http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/dell-environment-recycling .

‘About Us,’ Goodwill Industries International, Inc., http://www.goodwill.org/about-us/ .

‘Dell Reconnect—How It Works’, Dell Inc., http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/corp-comm/how-it-works-reconnect .

www.dell.com/gold .

Hower (2015).

‘Dell 2020 Legacy of Good Plan’, Dell Inc., http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/corporate/corp-comm/en/Documents/2020-plan.pdf .

‘Dell’s Closed-Loop Recycling Process’, Dell Inc., https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjdkPqots7TAhXhKsAKHde7AF0QFggoMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dell.com%2Fsites%2Fdoccontent%2Fcorporate%2Fsecure%2Fen%2FDocuments%2FClosed-LoopRecyclingfull.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHzBL-F4ooKUkKnDSbgyHG8CLRzQ&sig2=bKIXDKjRA1YoWSQgh4H5yg .

Louise Koch (Corporate Sustainability Lead for Europe, Middle East and Africa), personal communication.

Scott O’Connell (Dell, Director of Environmental Affairs), interviewed by Mike Hower (Hower 2015)

Dell, Dell Inc., http://www.dell.com/en-us/ .

‘Valuing the Net Benefit of Dell’s More Sustainable Plastic Use at an Industry-Wide Scale’, Trucost, September 2015, http://i.dell.com/sites/content/corporate/corp-comm/en/Documents/circular-economy-net-benefits.pdf .

‘Dell 2020 Legacy of Good Plan,’ Dell Inc., http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/corporate/corp-comm/en/Documents/2020-plan.pdf

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Home / Case Studies / Dell Technologies

Dell Technologies unlocks new connections and streamlines work with Microsoft Viva Topics

Published on March 1, 2023

Dell Technologies logo

Dell Technologies

Among one of the world’s leading technology companies, Dell Technologies is committed to transforming business, shaping the future of innovation, and driving human progress. With more than 158,000 employees, the organization has a vast amount of organizational knowledge and content that its tens of thousands of salespeople around the world consider vital. Dell Technologies turned to Microsoft Viva Topics, a knowledge platform that uses AI to bring knowledge and content directly to employees in the Microsoft 365 apps where they already work.

When Sandra Murtagh, Vice President of Global Sales Learning and Development at Dell Technologies, and Karen Butcher, Head of the Global Sales Learning and Development Transformation Office at Dell Technologies, launched a transformation office within the Dell learning and development organization, the goal was to orient the sales function toward the future. “We’re always thinking about what’s next,” says Butcher. “How can we make the learning experience better? How can we make life easier for our sellers?”

They focused on delivering great experiences and integrating their learning platform with Microsoft Teams, where sellers will be able to access training content at the moment of need. Viva Topics emerged as the next logical step. “Moving forward, we want to integrate more and more information in convenient places for sellers,” says Butcher. “That’s exactly what we’ve started to do with Viva Topics.”

The sales learning and development organization at Dell recognized AI as the most effective way to gather and present large amounts of information. “We’re using Viva Topics because it’s an AI-driven curation engine that pulls together both content and people associated with topics,” says Bruce Sánchez, Global Lead for Sales Learning and Development Technology at Dell Technologies. And because Viva Topics will extend to partner apps, employees will gain a full picture of information gathered from Microsoft sources and beyond. “We’re always on the lookout for partner integrations,” adds Srikanth Ramaswamy, Global Lead for Modern Content and Collaboration Services, Dell Digital Team Member Experience at Dell Technologies. After the success of the pilot testing phase, Dell has recently expanded the use of Viva Topics and embraced a full-scale rollout across its global sales force.

Turning to Viva Topics to uncover knowledge from within the apps they use every day leads Dell sales employees to forge new connections with colleagues. “That’s probably one of the biggest benefits we’re experiencing,” says Murtagh. “Historically, we relied on legacy relationships, but with the combination of Microsoft Teams and Viva Topics, we’re opening up collaboration and relationships across all our functions.” 

The ability to effortlessly create connections is a boon for a global, highly dispersed sales force. “Dell has championed working from home for many years,” says Butcher. “And today, a hybrid approach is at the forefront of our organization.” Creating a flexible, highly mobile experience for sellers is one way the sales learning and development organization supports the hybrid approach for Dell’s sales team. “The ability to easily search for and uncover content natively in Teams and other applications was a big hit,” Butcher continues. “Especially because people have the same experience on mobile devices and desktops, no matter where they work from.” 

“We’ve made Viva Topics a big part of our reimagination of what work looks like for our sellers.”

As the sales learning and development organization expands its use of Viva Topics, it’s also exploring other Microsoft Viva modules, including Microsoft Viva Connections, Microsoft Viva Sales, and Microsoft Viva Insights. It’s an exciting moment. “I’ve been with Dell for 26 years,” says Murtagh. “Where we are now in terms of knowledge management and learning is a massive flip from where we were in the past. We’ve made Viva Topics a big part of our reimagination of what work looks like for our sellers.”

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Case Study - Dell

Dell is an American privately owned multinational technology company based in Round Rock, Texas offering technology solutions for every person at every age and in every profession. Dell’s Principal Environmental Strategist, John Pflueger, tells us more about their science-based targets here.

For more than 30 years, Dell has played a critical role in transforming computing, enabling more affordable and more pervasive access to technology around the world. Named after its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest technological corporations in the world, employing more than 100,000 people worldwide. In 2015, Dell was the third largest PC vendor in the world.

We spoke to Dell’s Principal Environmental Strategist, John Pflueger, about the company’s journey to setting a science-based target.

Why did you set a science-based target?

Back in 2011 we were reviewing our approach to sustainability and we realised that we had been being more reactive than proactive in terms of what we chose to tackle and why. We decided to change this: to become more proactive, and expand our field of view, with customers at the centre of our decisions.

We had had goals in the past, but they had been in silos, on different time frames, and not related to each other or informed by an underlying framework. We realised that while what happened within our walls was important, our footprint extended up and down our supply chain and we needed to address that.

A decision was made at the highest levels to set long-term sustainability goals for the whole company, which addressed the full implications of what we make and sell, including the energy customers need to use our products. We called this our 2020 Legacy of Good Plan. Grounding the energy target in science made sense because it means we know this is what we have to do to help keep temperatures from rising above 2°C.

What was the process?

Having taken the decision to set new ambitious targets in 2011, we then spent much of 2012 and 2013 developing them. Setting a goal for our operations, packing and logistics was not so hard: we had had goals in these areas in the past. What was more challenging was looking downstream at how our products were used. We decided to focus on energy as opposed to emissions, on the basis that the former can be a proxy for the latter. Essentially we decided we needed to reduce the energy our products consumed – as the biggest part of our carbon footprint.

We started off by working with all the different product sets – including laptops, desktops, servers, networking equipment etc. We asked the same questions and had the same sorts of conversations: what can we realistically achieve in terms of efficiency savings; what technology is coming down the line? We had a lot of help from our Chief Technology Officer.

By October 2013 we had got consensus in the different product groups, had socialised the target and got approval from executives. Later, in 2015, as part of a review of our strategy on climate change, we took what we’d done and presented it to CDP and WWF for approval, to see if our goals met the science-based targets criteria, which they did. So in that sense we kind of ‘backed into’ an official science-based target.

What are the benefits of having a science-based target?

We are seeing increasingly the direct consequences of climate change in the form of more extreme and more regular weather events. It’s clear that all businesses have to act, to pull their weight to help tackle this serious long-term challenge.

This is about how we want to be seen as a company, about what it means to be a responsible corporate citizen; it is also what our customers expect from us. By setting science-based targets we are ensuring our own sustainability, as well as supporting the needs of businesses in the future. Our customers need to know we have their back and can help them reduce energy use in the long term.

It has been an extremely useful process to go through: to understand the challenges and the potential technical solutions, to invest in the capability to measure progress. We are learning things that will fundamentally alter our thinking about our products and what we plan for in the future. And of course there are cost savings: if we can reduce the energy our products use we benefit from that.

It also helps us to attract and retain the right staff. Millennials in particular care how responsible a company is and will use that as the basis of a decision around who to work for.

To what extent has this driven innovation in the company?

Engineers love data! Give them the data and they will respond. They can now go in and work out where the biggest energy footprints are in the company. They have a licence to innovate in order to meet the business strategy goals. The fact is if you want to solve a problem, you need to know the scale and nature of the problem you are trying to solve. When you have this information and these insights, then you know what you need to do.

Did you encounter any challenges?

We were surprised by how material the footprint of our monitors was in comparison to the overall company footprint. We didn’t initially think about having to address this. We had to go back and revisit internal assumptions. This was a bit embarrassing, in a way, but ultimately it’s a good thing. It’s empowering. We would never have challenged these assumptions if we hadn’t had the metric and the target to aim for.

Part of the challenge is that customers are demanding increasingly high-quality performance monitors. We had to ask ourselves: ‘how do we meet customer demand while continuing to reduce emissions?’ Before we had a science-based target these questions would have just been for the water cooler – but now they receive proper attention.

The other potential challenge is that there is a lot of sensitive information and data behind our targets. We need to be careful about this, while balancing the need to communicate the benefits of a target and demonstrate our leadership and innovation in a granular way.

Do you anticipate this improving your relationship with regulators or government?

I think the American Business Acts on Climate Pledge was a real watershed moment. It was a big signal from the Federal government that companies needed to start looking seriously at these issues. The government doesn’t just set rules and a culture, but it is also a potential customer. It can indicate its support for low-carbon innovation by purchasing those products, so in that sense, having a science-based target should stand us in good stead.

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Neurodiversity in the Workplace

Dell: All in on Neurodiversity Hiring and Pushing for Scale

For the company that helped democratize the PC and continues to shape our digital future, diversity and inclusion are critical to success. Because Dell continually faces a tight tech labor market and a constant drive to innovate, expanding the talent pipeline to bring in traditionally underrepresented groups is a cornerstone of the business.

Noting the rise of the Autism @ Work movement, Dell jumped at the chance to launch a neurodiversity hiring program of their own. To start, Dell EMC, out of the Hopkinton, Massachusetts office, partnered with a local, disability services provider who then—based on reputation and consultation with other technology companies—suggested collaboration with the Neurodiversity in the Workplace team.

After in-depth conversations with Dell leadership, including Diversity and Inclusion and Talent Acquisition, we helped cultivate strong executive sponsorship for the program. This buy-in allowed Neurodiversity in the Workforce to develop and deploy a robust, customized curriculum and training program. Together we implemented an alternative hiring process allowing  candidates to showcase technical skills, professional development and job coaching for new hires, and education and support for managers. 

Dell’s enthusiastic embrace of neurodiversity—the community’s genuine support in the context of an open, accepting environment—provided fertile ground for the program to flourish. The initiative was launched in the spring of 2018, and it’s been attracting top-tier talent ever since.

Employees welcomed through Dell’s neurodiversity hiring program have significantly lower turnover rates than the industry average. They’ve also made advances in efficiency and innovation, in part by identifying new ways to automate time-consuming processes. 

Perhaps the biggest testament to the program is its growth, from the east coast all the way to Round Rock. Dell is now looking to scale, and planning for larger and larger hiring cohorts. Along the way, they’ve inspired other businesses to embrace neurodivergent talent, including VMware, now a partner of ours as well. By embedding neurodiversity into their talent acquisition pipeline, Dell is weaving inclusion into the fabric of the organization.

Dell’s brand is built on a commitment to creating technologies that drive human progress, in the pursuit of a more innovative, inclusive, and sustainable world. Neurodiversity in the Workplace is proud to work alongside a company that’s all in on neurodiversity hiring as a foundation for shared success.

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Home » Management Case Studies » Case Study of Dell: Business Innovation and Success

Case Study of Dell: Business Innovation and Success

Dell Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation which is based in Round Rock, Texas, United States. The corporation being the largest technological corporations in the world develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services which employs more than 96000 people. The company bears the name of its founder, Michael Dell. The company sells personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, and computer peripherals. The company is also popular for its HDTVs, cameras, printers, MP3 players and other electronics built by other manufacturers.

Case Study of Dell: Business Innovation and Success

The company is well known for its innovations in supply chain management and electronic commerce. Dell’s tagline is ‘Yours is Here’. Their Business/Corporate class represent brand where the company advertises emphasizes long life-cycles, reliability, and serviceability. Such brands include Optiplex, Vostro, N Series, Latitude, Precision, Power Edge; Power vault etc. Their Home Office/Consumer class emphasizes value, performance, and expandability. These brands include Inspiron, Studio, XPS, Studio XPS, Alienware Adamo. Their Peripherals class is popular in market which includes USB keydrives, LCD televisions, and printers. Dell monitors includes LCD TVs, plasma TVs and projectors for HDTV and monitors. Their service and support brands include the Dell Solution Station, Dell Support Center, Dell Business Support, Dell Everdream Desktop Management and Your Tech Team.

The general policy of the company to manufacture its products close to its customers so as to minimize the delay between purchase and delivery has been really beneficial for the company in terms of goodwill. This is done by implementing a just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing approach , which minimizes inventory costs .

Another signature of the Dell business model which is a critical consideration in an industry where components depreciate very rapidly is low inventory. The manufacturing process of the company covers assembly, software installation, functional testing, quality control and many more. Dell has proved be a great manufacturing company. It manufactures desktop machines in-house and then contracted out manufacturing of base notebooks for configuration in-house. Various innovation processes takes place in the company which proves to be efficient for the company.

Dell Inc. brands its service agreements at five levels for their business customers. The first one being the Basic support which provides business-hours telephone support and next business-day on-site support/ Return-to-Base or Collect and Return Services which are based on contracts purchased at point of sale. Then is the Silver support which provides 24×7 telephone support and 4-hour on-site support after telephone-based troubleshooting. The next being the Gold support which provides additional benefits over and above Silver support. The Platinum Plus support provides additional benefits to Gold Support. And the last but not the least is the two-hour on-site support. Another important is the Dell’s Consumer division which offers 24×7 phones based and online troubleshooting rather than only during business hours in certain markets. Dell has put together packages of options for each category of its customers be it small and medium-sized businesses, large businesses, government, education, and health-care- and life-sciences.

There are various marketing strategies of the company which helps it to achieve its desired goals. Its marketing strategies include lowering prices at all times of the year and offering free bonus products. Another important strategy is offering free shipping in order to encourage more sales and to stave off competitors. The company has planned to expand its program to value-added resellers (VARs), giving it the official name of “Dell Partner Direct” and a new Website. This innovative idea would help the company to go a long way. Dell used to sell its products through Best Buy, Costco and Sam’s Club stores in the United States but then it stopped this practice because it cited low profit-margins on the business. The major competitors of the company are Apple, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Acer, Toshiba, Gateway, Sony, Asus, Lenovo, IBM, Samsung, and Sun Microsystems.

Dell is a company that has pioneered the art of offering exactly the kind of machine needed and demanded. As a company that revolutionized the PC industry, Dell helps drive industry innovation through a time-tested process that puts the customer first. It is aimed at producing easy-to-use products, services and solutions that address needs. Innovation is central to Dell’s recently-announced ‘Simplify IT’ strategy. Committed to reducing complexity and costs for its customers, Dell looks to turn their IT investment into a significant business driver. In a typical IT spends, about 70 per cent goes into maintenance, and only 30 per cent is for innovation . Dell is committed to reversing this ratio not just driving innovation within Dell’s own products and services, but also facilitating innovation for customers with Dell solutions. Some of the other innovations include The H2C thermal transfer unit, the solid-state disk drive, The Blu ray optical disk drive, Display port cables and connectors.

Dell based his strategy on obtaining high growth with integrity and achieving market share the old-fashioned way: one customer at a time. By selling customized products directly to end customers, Dell has empowered businesses and consumers to choose the best solutions for their computing needs. Now, direct from Dell comes Dell Insight, the new industry quarterly that addresses real-world business issues and provides real world solutions. Dell’s research and development (R&D) efforts now span the globe, driven by some of the industry’s foremost product designers and engineers. At the core of Dell’s innovation approach, however, remains an unwavering commitment to deliver new and better solutions that directly address customer needs. Many innovations begin in-house, led by a global team of top engineers, product designers and technical experts. Others begin as a team effort with Dell’s strategic partners . The mission is to deliver innovative and cost-effective solutions that meet today’s real-life customer challenges and work seamlessly in existing environments and with other products. Innovation is not only found in the products and services we deliver, it’s what Dell brings out in our customers.

Dell is a disciplined, process-oriented company that packages technology like no one else. Dell provided guidance and best practices to consolidate the fast-growing IT infrastructure. IT staff has more time to further business objectives. Planned use of virtualization tools within the business continuity strategy reduces disaster recovery time from days to hours .

Dell showed the industry a new way to do business in personal computers. It was revolutionary at the time and created a very large, very profitable franchise in computing. The market has also been changing while Dell has been catching up. The market has been moving increasingly toward mobile computing as the new locus of innovation and activity. Apple is the only computer company that saw this locus coming and it exploited it fully by introducing the iPhone. But Dell is not found exploiting this new innovation although they have made some noises about having their own branded device. It doesn’t appear that they are investing heavily in it which should be done in oder to gain more for their status in the market. It is not that there is no innovation at Dell its just that there is not nearly enough. The company has generated practical online communities which has leveraged social networks like Twitter . A one-trick pony is plenty when the trick is good enough. The trick is no longer unique in the business world. There is just no point in rehashing the misfortunes of Dell customer service and the legendary “Dell Hell” that was created for customers and users. Dell has made two fairly large acquisitions which has proved to be kind of loss for the company. First is the purchase of Perot which recognizes one clear fact in the enterprise market that is the professional services are required. IBM led the way here with IBM Global Services many years ago and even exited the PC business. Dell professional services were so bad once that the customers didn’t even use them when they were included at no additional charges. Perot addresses this weakness but merely follows market reality and is a somewhat lesser solution than what is already offered by the competition. Secondly, Dell also acquired EqualLogic. It doesn’t bring unique capabilities or a change in positioning for Dell although a very strong player in storage area networking. Most of the systems vendors like HP, IBM, and Microsystems have storage solutions. It has built a fairly good all-in-one computer to try and match the iMac. It has also designed a cool laptop called the Adamo. But these are all changes at the margin rather than being at the level of corporate identity and positioning.

Dell has to do something deep, daring, daunting and potentially delightful in order to retain its position in the market. Dell being a hardware manufacturer is narrower than HP, IBM and Sony and Hitachi. HP and IBM have software expertise and knows to build its own OS and software application suites for business use. Sony makes consumer electronics and owns entertainment media. Hitachi makes consumer electronics and appliances. Dell has tightly concentrated itself on making PC before branching out into services but purchasing other firms.

Conclusion:

The company must rely heavily on others for software before it can develop software prowess to add value to its hardware. Dell was never a technology innovator. Dell was just a PC maker that hit on a business model that worked for a time. It never adapted, never looked forward and became complacent. Dell has tightly focused itself on making PC before branching out into services but purchasing other firms. Dell had a brilliant business model to build computers at the time of order to avoid stockpiling inventory . The company worked well until other manufacturing companies discovered cheaper and more innovative methods to cut costs . There is little to differentiate these companies besides price, quality, style, service and technology. Dell unfortunately lags behind all in all of these areas. Dell’s new innovation strategy is not just standards but to attract business customers . The company is unveiling a new Latitude business notebook computer but it’s a bit different from what Dell used to represent. Dell made a name for itself by focusing on standardized technology and the business model that allowed customers to pick and choose the extras for their own computer. Innovation was not an important word seen in Dell. Companies like HP and Sony were selling innovation back then when Dell was selling affordable PCs to the masses. Dell spurs innovation in this way which surely needs changes so as to deliver the best to their customers.

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EU AI Act: first regulation on artificial intelligence

The use of artificial intelligence in the EU will be regulated by the AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive AI law. Find out how it will protect you.

A man faces a computer generated figure with programming language in the background

As part of its digital strategy , the EU wants to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure better conditions for the development and use of this innovative technology. AI can create many benefits , such as better healthcare; safer and cleaner transport; more efficient manufacturing; and cheaper and more sustainable energy.

In April 2021, the European Commission proposed the first EU regulatory framework for AI. It says that AI systems that can be used in different applications are analysed and classified according to the risk they pose to users. The different risk levels will mean more or less regulation. Once approved, these will be the world’s first rules on AI.

Learn more about what artificial intelligence is and how it is used

What Parliament wants in AI legislation

Parliament’s priority is to make sure that AI systems used in the EU are safe, transparent, traceable, non-discriminatory and environmentally friendly. AI systems should be overseen by people, rather than by automation, to prevent harmful outcomes.

Parliament also wants to establish a technology-neutral, uniform definition for AI that could be applied to future AI systems.

Learn more about Parliament’s work on AI and its vision for AI’s future

AI Act: different rules for different risk levels

The new rules establish obligations for providers and users depending on the level of risk from artificial intelligence. While many AI systems pose minimal risk, they need to be assessed.

Unacceptable risk

Unacceptable risk AI systems are systems considered a threat to people and will be banned. They include:

  • Cognitive behavioural manipulation of people or specific vulnerable groups: for example voice-activated toys that encourage dangerous behaviour in children
  • Social scoring: classifying people based on behaviour, socio-economic status or personal characteristics
  • Biometric identification and categorisation of people
  • Real-time and remote biometric identification systems, such as facial recognition

Some exceptions may be allowed for law enforcement purposes. “Real-time” remote biometric identification systems will be allowed in a limited number of serious cases, while “post” remote biometric identification systems, where identification occurs after a significant delay, will be allowed to prosecute serious crimes and only after court approval.

AI systems that negatively affect safety or fundamental rights will be considered high risk and will be divided into two categories:

1) AI systems that are used in products falling under the EU’s product safety legislation . This includes toys, aviation, cars, medical devices and lifts.

2) AI systems falling into specific areas that will have to be registered in an EU database:

  • Management and operation of critical infrastructure
  • Education and vocational training
  • Employment, worker management and access to self-employment
  • Access to and enjoyment of essential private services and public services and benefits
  • Law enforcement
  • Migration, asylum and border control management
  • Assistance in legal interpretation and application of the law.

All high-risk AI systems will be assessed before being put on the market and also throughout their lifecycle.

General purpose and generative AI

Generative AI, like ChatGPT, would have to comply with transparency requirements:

  • Disclosing that the content was generated by AI
  • Designing the model to prevent it from generating illegal content
  • Publishing summaries of copyrighted data used for training

High-impact general-purpose AI models that might pose systemic risk, such as the more advanced AI model GPT-4, would have to undergo thorough evaluations and any serious incidents would have to be reported to the European Commission.

Limited risk

Limited risk AI systems should comply with minimal transparency requirements that would allow users to make informed decisions. After interacting with the applications, the user can then decide whether they want to continue using it. Users should be made aware when they are interacting with AI. This includes AI systems that generate or manipulate image, audio or video content, for example deepfakes.

On December 9 2023, Parliament reached a provisional agreement with the Council on the AI act . The agreed text will now have to be formally adopted by both Parliament and Council to become EU law. Before all MEPs have their say on the agreement, Parliament’s internal market and civil liberties committees will vote on it.

More on the EU’s digital measures

  • Cryptocurrency dangers and the benefits of EU legislation
  • Fighting cybercrime: new EU cybersecurity laws explained
  • Boosting data sharing in the EU: what are the benefits?
  • EU Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act
  • Five ways the European Parliament wants to protect online gamers
  • Artificial Intelligence Act

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Dell Analysis Case Study

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.

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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. Dell also commanded 15. 1 percent share of the worldwide computer systems market, and 11 percent growth rate, which exceeded industry worldwide computer systems growth of 9. 7 percent.

However Dell saw enormous success in 2008, in 2009, Hewlett Packard took over the top spot as the leading PC provider and revenue growth rate stalled with revenues falling from $61.

133 billion in 2008 to $61. 101 billion in 2009. The economic downturn forced Dell to scale back spending directly impacting Dell’s market share, with Dell shipping 16. 7% fewer computers worldwide in 2009 versus 2008. After suffering losses in 2008, Dell announced that it would start 2009 by reorganizing its business units from regional segments to four globally operated areas.

The new sectors would include the following: large enterprise, public sector, small and medium businesses, and a global consumer; so that they could better align themselves with the needs of customers in order to produce “faster innovation and globally standardized products and services”.

Key Issues As previously stated Dell’s key issues began with the little growth worldwide in the corporate market, which was Dell’s core source of revenue, and slow growth in the consumer market. Operating costs were too high; especially as the price competition was rising due to an increasingly competitive environment.

The economy’s downturn continued to weaken IT spending, as worldwide PC shipments continued to decline. This caused Dell to have to cut back spending which in turn affected their market share. This case study will reflect the decisions made by Dell in 2009, as they try to regain market share and better diversify their product lines in order to combat the key issues that have arisen during this time. General Environment: The general environment is composed of segments that are external to the firm.

These environment segments affect all industries and the firms competing in them.

The challenge for Dell is to scan, monitor, forecast, and assess the elements in each segment to determine their effects on the firm (Hitt). Also, it is important for Dell to understand the driving forces behind each of the six factors in the general environment: demographic, economic, political/legal, socio-cultural, technological and global. Demographic: The demographic segment has many opportunities for Dell. Dell servers four main customer segments – Home Users, Larger Enterprise, Small and Medium Businesses (SMB), and Public Sector.

The home users segment makes up 25 percent of all computers shipped worldwide.

Despite being a smaller market, the consumer segment “has the potential to expand faster than business with corporations and government agencies” (Hitt). Being the largest buyers in the IT industry, large enterprise customers can demand customized solutions for their specific needs. Analysts suggest that the small and medium business customer segment is expected to grow 4 to 7 percent in 2009 for a total available market opportunity of $68 billion. Dell is trying to meet the needs of low-cost Basic PC users with their product, the Vostro-A, in emerging markets.

Dell’s products are known to be affordable, reliable, scalable, and customizable to meet their clients’ needs, demands, and level of understanding in these markets (Hitt).

Dell is unpopular with college students; their sales in the educational segment accounted for only 5 percent of 2009 revenue. Economic: The economic segment is an important threat to Dell. Dell faces significant challenges in the midst of the current economic recession. Forrester Research analyst Andrew Bartels predicts “the brunt of the slowdown in IT spending will hit servers and PCs,” which is Dell’s primary market.

The worst-case scenario for IT spending in 2009 will be no growth in the United States, and IT expenditures are expected to shrink in Europe (Hitt). Dell’s first quarter Net Revenue fell by 23 percent.

In 2009, the Large Enterprise segment, the companies’ largest commercial revenue stream, dropped 31 percent to $3. 4 billion and operating margins of 5. 7 percent. Also, revenues for the public, SMB, and consumer segments all dropped an average of 19. 2 percent in 2009. Publicly traded on the NASDAQ, Dell has been a volatile stock over the past year with a high of $26.

04 and a low of $7. 84 per share. Dell’s 12-month stock performance is -48. 9 percent, which is due in large part to the global recession. Political/Legal: The Political/legal segment is a threat to Dell, but not as important as the economic and technological segments. Changes in U.

S. monetary policy as well as economic policies around the world may lead to volatile exchange rates, exposing Dell to currency risks despite its foreign currency hedging program. Sales outside the U. S. accounted for 48 percent of Net Revenue.

Also, government and environmental groups have called for corporations to become more “green” and energy efficient. 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 argeting 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 percent of Net Revenue, and that percentage is expected to increase sharply in the next couple years. The globalization of the market is introducing opportunities to move manufacturing and operations to offset costs and open new potential customer markets. Industry Environment: As of 2008, the personal computer and hardware industry is composed of a range of competitors, each offering differentiated services to customers.

There is an intense rivalry among the competitors due to the high technology and fast-cycle market. Firms are competing to attract and retain customers.

The top five companies in the industry are: Hewlett-Packard, Acer, Lenovo , Toshiba, and Apple . In the industry environment we “examine the competitive forces that influence the profitability potential” within the industry or segment of the industry (Hitt et. al, 2007). We used the Porter’s five forces model to determine the impact on production.

It is important for Dell to use Porter’s model so that they can be competitive in their market.

Porters Five Forces and Analysis Potential Entrants Threat of new entrants is determined to be Moderate. * There is low product differentiation, example brand name and loyalty are a barrier to entry. * There are 5 major companies but none are overly dominant, this shows there are low economies of scale. * No legal or governmental barriers * Cost leadership has lead to lower profitability thus allowing more of a threat of new entrants.

Rivalry Threat of rivalry is determined to be High. * The industry is highly concentrated * Price war has resulted in low profit margin * Decreasing profitability Low product differentiation * Dell has shown that it can gain market share previously held by competitors, proving that Dell has a successful business strategy. Threat of Substitutes Threat of substitutes is determined to be Low. * Personal computers have a strong presence throughout society. * Only substitute for PC is Apple Computer systems.

High price and lack of adequate software support are barriers to switching to Apple Systems. * Threat of substitute is low because the customers are searching for a quality product, there is no demand for a generic brand with low quality.

Bargaining Power of Buyers Bargaining power of buyer is determined to be High. * The customer is highly price sensitive. * Consumers put a lot of weight on reliability and customer service, both are important factors at decision time.

* This works in the benefit of Dell because Dell is known for its products reliability and has a reputation of superior customer service. Those two factors help to create brand loyalty. However, those competencies only hold while Dell maintains its price leadership, if prices raise too high customers will care less about customer service and reliability.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers Bargaining power of suppliers is determined to be High. * There are a large quantity of suppliers for many of the hardware components and complementary products such as hardware, monitors, speakers, etc. * Most importantly, there are two major inputs that are monopolized.

Microsoft is standard for all PC’s and Intel is standard for most PC’s. * A high switching cost works to the benefit of the suppliers. Competitor Analysis: Dell has 5 key competitors.

They are HP, Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba, Apple.

HP is the largest competitor in the personal computer hardware industry with a 19. 2 % market share worldwide and 24. 9% in the United States. Hewlett-Packard Hewlett-Packard competes with Dell in almost every category.

HP holds the top position globally in the PC segment and with 19% market share and recently overtook the top spot in the United States. HP’s breakdown of revenue is as follows: PC and handheld devices 35%, Imaging and Printing 25%, Services 19%, Enterprise Storage and Solutions 16%, HP software 2%, HP financial services 2%, corporate investments 1%.

In their largest segment, the PC, they are trying to kick-start slowing sales by introducing new sleek touch screen computers. HP is currently going through a four-year restructuring project to improve its efficiency, and has released plans to cut just under 25,000 employees from its global workforce. HP is looking to exploit the aging inefficient IT infrastructures; there is a big opportunity for profit in this market. Because of its comprehensive portfolio of hardware, software, and services, HP is well positioned to help customers manage and transform their IT environments.

Internal Analysis: Intangible Assets Human Resources Founder, CEO, and chairman of Dell, Inc. , Michael Dell was the youngest CEO to ever earn a ranking on the Fortune 500. Under his leadership, Dell, Inc. has developed a knowledgeable team of executives and more than 100,000 team members who serve the IT needs of global corporations, small and medium businesses, governments, healthcare providers, educational institutions, and home computing users. With over 28 years experience as CEO, Michael Dell is one of Dell, Inc.

‘s most valuable resources.

Innovation Resources Dell’s historical direct sales model has enabled the company to gather consumer sentiment information directly from the customers rather than third party retailers. This allows them to detect shifts in customer preferences earlier than competitors and reduce new product development time. Dell’s ideas and innovations come directly from customer requests and specifications. As far as business practice innovations go, one computer industry analyst commented, “Everyone is piggybacking Michael Dell’s distribution concept.

He forged the trail and everyone else is just following.

” Reputational Resources Dell’s reputation for providing technologically advanced differentiated products at a low cost has made it a top PC provider, worldwide. Dell has a portfolio of award-winning products. In 2009 in the UK, Dell won Best Gaming Laptop for the Alienware M17x, Best Laptop for Power and Features with the Dell Studio xPS 16, Best UltraPortable Laptop with the Adamo, and the 2009 “What Laptop” Editor’s Choice Award for the Studio 15. Dell attributes its consistent success to customer service.

Tangible Assets Physical Dell, Inc. is headquartered in Round Rock, TX.

It also has business centers and manufacturing sites in more than 20 locations around the world. In FY09, Dell began distributing its products through retail, value-added resellers, and distributors that allow it to reach more than 24,000 retail locations worldwide. Organizational Dell is in the process of reorganizing its business units from regional segments to four globally operate areas: large enterprise, public sector, small and medium businesses, and global consumers.

Dell is restructuring in order to better align with customer needs for faster innovation and globally standardized products and services. Technological As of Jan.

30, 2009, Dell held a worldwide portfolio of 2,253 patents and had an additional 2,514 patent applications pending. The inventions claimed in these patents and applications cover aspects of current and possible future computer system products, manufacturing processes, and related technologies which they hoped would establish barriers to entry in many product lines. (www. wikinvest. com &gt;Dell&gt;Topics) Financial

Over the last decade, Dell has increased revenues by 142 percent and currently has $9 billion in cash. However, revenue growth has slowed with FY09 revenues of $61.

101 billion compared to FY08 of $61. 133 billion. Desktop PC’s, their largest product revenue stream, experienced a 12 percent decline, and in the first quarter of FY10, revenue in all of their key product lines decreased. Dell increased spending in research and development to $693 million in 2008 in their five keys areas. Capabilities and Core Competencies: Diverse Product Portfolio Due to the rapid technological innovations in computer electronics and the high level of dependency of many businesses and home users, there are no clear, direct substitute products for Dell’s product portfolio. ” Dell’s diverse product portfolio assures their ability to satisfy the computing needs of large enterprises down to home computer users.

Their computers range in price from $250 to $5,500. Their built-to-order method allows the consumer to pick the options they want or need in a computer, so they know exactly what they are paying for and are not forced into buying unnecessary, price-inflating add-ons.

Marketing Dell is now a globally recognized brand. In late 2005, a formal study was conducted on Fortune 1000 companies to rank consumer brand recognition. Dell was ranked #15. The study went on to confirm that consumers are more likely to purchase products or services from a company with a highly recognizable name.

In the mind of the typical consumer, brand name recognition equates to trust in the quality of that product. By Jan. 30, 2009, Dell had obtained U. S. federal trademark registration for the Dell word mark and logo and had applied for registration in approximately 184 other countries.

Dell’s marketing department has done an excellent job of spreading their name worldwide.

Relationship Management Dell exemplifies industrial leadership in managing supplier relationships by recognizing and rewarding its top suppliers. Dell is in so good with some of its largest suppliers that those supplying companies have set up their own facilities within a 20 mile radius of Dell’s manufacturing plants. Aside from superior supplier relationship management, Dell has great customer relations, too. In 2008, every Fortune 100 company did business with Dell.

As large companies make up close to 30% of Dell’s business globally, it is important for them to maintain good relationships with these big spenders.

Part of their strategy for relationship management with these companies comes from a strategy they implemented in 1986. They decided that if a large enterprise had a problem with one of their products, instead of trying to tell them how to fix it themselves, they would respond with “I’ll be right there” and they would fix the problem on site. Value Chain Analysis: Primary Activities Inbound Logistics

Dell’s direct customer sales business model enables the company to keep inventory low. The computer industry median inventory turnover in 2009 was 11. 5 while Dell’s was 46.

2. Operations Average days in inventory for the typical 2009 computer industry company was 31. 7. Dells’ was 7. 9.

(www. aaii. com/computerized-investing) Dell operates very efficiently to ensure speedy, quality production of its products Outbound Logistics Dell’s direct customer sales business model also enables they to cut out warehousing costs for finished goods almost completely.

Dell computers are built to order in a manufacturing facility strategically chosen to allow fast delivery from the time the computer order is placed. On average, it takes only seven to ten days from the time Dell receives a customized order to the time the computer is delivered. Marketing and Sales As covered in the core competencies section, Dell has done an incredible job of making its name known.

Once again, by practicing this direct customer sales business model, Dell is able to learn about sales trends and unmet customer demands from the customer. Service Dell continues to excel in customer service.

They were the first to offer 24 hour service support, and they also implemented the “I’ll be right there” approach with some of their biggest customers. They actually went to the site of the problem and fixed it themselves. Support Activities Procurement Dell does not make any of its component parts.

Dell relies heavily on its suppliers to keep the company moving forward. Dell has done an excellent job in building relationships with the suppliers, some of whom were willing to set up their own facilities near Dell’s manufacturers to ensure speedy delivery of its parts to Dell.

Technological Development Dell holds thousands of patents on its technological advancements. Dell is always moving forward in technology. Its direct sales business model enables the company to hear directly from the customer about things they wish they could do with their computers. Dell moves on those wishes and works to gain the technology needed to provide those products first.

Human Resource Management Dell has over 100,000 employees worldwide. In 2008, Dell received 347,448 applications for entry-level positions. Nearly 3 out of 4 entry-level hires are minorities and over 50 percent are women.

Dell is a very diverse company. (www.

businessweek. com/careers/first_jobs/2009) Dell also prefers to promote its current employees rather than hire from outside. This encourages current employees to continue working hard to grow within the company. Firm Infrastructure Dell completely revolutionized the typical computer industry value chain with its direct to customer model. Dell focuses on return on invested capital as a key managerial evaluation tool. Dell often achieves ROIC of more than 50 percent while HP is consistently around 15 percent.

(www. dailyfinance. om/does-apple-pass-buffetts-test) Dell strives to eliminate inventory pile-up. This system has allowed them to do that. Strength One of Dell’s most clear strengths is its direct business model. The model has allowed Dell to create strong relationship with customers.

The “customize” to order business model used by Dell provides in-depth customer knowledge, helping Dell to gather valuable information about their target markets. With such a closes relationships Dell has been able to build an award winning service center with special support for businesses and has made customer support a cornerstone of the business.

Brand recognition is strength for Dell. With 24,000 retail locations worldwide and employing 103,300, and shipping 43 million units in 2009, Dell is one of the world’s largest technological corporations. Dell is considered a first mover in the direct order business model for personal PC’s.

This allowed Dell to focus on its cost leadership but keeping the cost inventory down. Dell also exemplifies industrial leadership in managing supplier relationship by recognizing and rewarding its top suppliers at its annual Worldwide Procurement Supplier Award. Weakness

Few suppliers of critical computer components is a weakness, the nature of the high-tech industry, Dell was forced to contract with a few supplier who have control over key capabilities in the value chain. The direct customer sales business model was once a great asset but in the dynamic of high-tech fast paced industry of computers, but Dell found itself not connecting with all of its target market and realized that it needed a change in its distribution channels. Dell realized that some shopper wanted to go and see product line of different manufactures side but side and talk to technicians about features.

Dell sales in the educational segment accounted for only 5% of 2009 revenue; Dell is un-popular with college students.

Opportunities Acquisitions are another major strength of Dell’s, with 42% of revenue in 2009 earned from something other than PC sales. In 2008 Dell acquired EqualLogic to gain a foothold in the iSCSI storage market. In 2009 Dell purchased Perot System in a 3. 9 Billion dollar deal as part of there corporate level strategy of related constrained acquisition. Perot is in the application development, system integration and strategic Consulting services, adding to wide product line of Dells services and PC’s.

In 2009 Dell made over 2. 52 billion with storage, service, server networks and software and peripherals. In the emerging nations of the BRIC countries Dell is providing a region specific product the “Vostro-A” to meet the need of the customers in these Countries, the customers are concerned with basic PC functions such as access to the internet and email. The BRIC National make up over 50% of the global economy. The personal PC market has grown 20% in just the last year.

In 2009 the market was worth $677 billion that is just 9% of the world’s $7. trillion ITC spending. Threats In the late 1990’s and the early 2000’s the industry saw a wave of successful new computer manufacture enter the market such as Acer, Asus, Toshiba, and Fujitsu making the Threat of new entries high. U. S.

monetary policy as well as economic policies around the world may lead to volatile exchange rates, exposing Dell to currency risks despite its foreign currency hedging programs. In the 1st quarter of 2009, Net Revenue fell by 23%, Large Enterprise(largest revenue stream) dropped 31%.

Going “Green” it’s great to say and great to think about but the fact is that when government and political agencies start calling for greener things, it almost always has a cost related to it and although good, “money spent on converting facilities and processes to a greener,” the return is hard the quantify. With more entries in the market, the thinner slices to be had, competitive rivalry is very high and the average price of computer creeping more towards the mean, and the product are more difficult to distinguish from one another and cost differentiation is more difficult to achieve.

Current Strategies: In the following sections, we will uncover the current business, corporate and international strategies for Dell. As mentioned previously, Dell’s management team has established one of the most efficient business models in the technology industry.

The company is built around a number of core tangible and intangible elements that have pushed Dell to the fore-front of PC industry; and has ultimately lead to them becoming the “go-to” company for all Fortune 100 companies in 2008.

Business Strategy: Dell’s notable business strategy was built around a number of core competencies:build-to-order manufacturing, partnerships with suppliers, just-in-time components inventories, direct sales to customers, award-winning customer service and technical support, and pioneering use of the Internet and e-commerce technology. Using the fore-mentioned elements, Dell’s strategy of offering “premium products at non-premium prices” deploys an integrated cost-leadership/differentiation strategy.

Through innovative Internet and e-commerce technology, their historical build-to-order manufacturing has lead to their ability to measure consumer sentiments. Through their ability to skip the retailing mark-up cost, Dell has built a reputation for providing customers with a technologically advanced differentiated product at a low cost to them. With this reputation, Dell became committed to continually delivering those products; and in turn sought to partner with their suppliers.

Corporate ;amp; International Strategies:

Through their business strategies and supplier partnerships, Dell was able to focus on other value-added activities. They began looking at their corporate strategies and decided to diversify their corporate model from a 2-tier focus to a 4-prong segmentation. Initially, the Dell corporations focused on two main segments: (1) corporate and governmental buyer who purchased large amounts (2) small buyers (individuals and small businesses); and their PC sales brought in over 80 percent of their revenue.

After a reassessment of their global strategies, Dell began to reorganize from its old regional prospective to its new four global segments: small and medium businesses, large enterprises, public sectors, and global consumers. Since the global segmentation, large enterprises have brought in most of Dell’s revenues totaling 30 percent in FY09; and non-PC sales have brought in 42 percent of their revenues in the same year.

Dell’s corporation began acquisitions in 2009 to increase their diversity to a related constrained strategy, after they noticed the change from PC sale to non-PC selling items.

Initially Dell sought diversification by acquiring EqualLogic, a iSCSI storage company, and then they acquired Perot, an application market company. 6. ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT ISSUES IDENTIFIED AT THE END OF THE CASE Dell’s current issues consist of globalization, change in consumer preferences and rising costs due to increasing competition. Due to many technological innovations in computer electronics and high levels of dependency of many businesses and home users, there are no clear substitutes for Dell’s product portfolio.

However, there is increased competition from new entrants in the Home Users market segment.

Success of new entrants from Japan and Taiwan such as competitors Acer, Asus, Toshiba and Fujitsu indicates that Dell will have more pressure to drive prices down due to globalization. What is majorly threatening to Dell regarding international market entrance is that sales outside the US accounted for approximately 48% of Dell’s consolidated net revenue in FY 09′.

With these major firms particularly appearing in Asia, Dell needs to consider researching more about the needs in international regions to ensure that consumer desires can be fulfilled and that Dell won’t be edged out of the market by newer, more innovative products. Another issue Dell is facing is a change in consumer preferences. Although their initial strategy of solely selling over the internet was successful for those seeking a specialized outlet for creating your own computer, Dell needs to adapt to the current consumer ideals.

Consumers are increasingly showing preference for shopping for computers at retailers where they can directly compare models.

In addition, due to the economic downturn, the demand in the Home User market has changed; households are reducing their discretionary spending and opting for low-cost PCs with fewer features. This is threatening to Dell because they already face the challenge of low costs from international competitors; adding the consumer preference of low-cost PCs suggests that Dell must now directly compete with other PC-makers who are cost-competitive.

Lastly, according to analysts at IDC, there is a major trend toward mobile computing, “Laptops will overtake desktop PCs as the dominant form of computer in 2011. ” One last current issue Dell faces is rising costs. Changes in US Monetary Policy as well as economic policies around the globe may lead to volatile exchange rates, potentially hindering world-wide sales. Especially with the competition globally and Dell’s reliance on out-of-the-country sales, a more expensive dollar could be extremely detrimental to Dell’s success.

7. ANALYSIS OF STRATEGIC OPTIONS AND THE RECOMMENDATION

Aware of the current issues, Dell is taking strategic action to alleviate and possibly internalize its negative externalities. Dell is trying to provide technologically advanced differentiated products that can support price premiums to increase profit margins. What is a somewhat innovation meets price strategy, it is aware of the current economic situation while still satiating the consumer with the trends and desire to innovative. In an attempt to attract tech-savvy customers who want the newest and best innovations, Dell has increased R;amp;D spending 39.

% in 2008 to facilitate the development of differentiated products. Increasing research spending is smart for Dell because it allows them to innovate PCs and laptops to please the consumer. Dell is also diversifying its distribution channels. From 2007-2009, Dell had expanded its retail operations to include 24,000 outlets worldwide. This is fulfilling the need that consumers have communicated as their new preference for PC shopping and has led to an 11% revenue growth within this segment from 2007-2008, proving the efforts directed at the consumer market are successful.

To cut down costs, Dell has been focusing on COGS (cost of goods sold) and OPEX (operating expenses). They’re taking a “Design to Value” approach and have undertaken a massive cost-cutting campaign to drive down excessive costs, seeking to cut $4 B in costs by the end of FY 11′. Through Design to Value, Dell can design products that optimize their manufacturing and logistics supply chain. This has also redesigned 33% of the business client and 5% of consumer platforms which now equates to more than 50% of Dell’s product value. It has also led to a 10% reduction in average cost per unit.

We recommend that Dell continue with its current responses to the issues they face in the PC market today. 8. JUSTIFICATION OF THE RECOMMENDATION The intelligent measures Dell has taken thus far are attributed to their increase in research and development. Their current strategies have employed admirable resistance to the current economic situation, low costs due to globalization, and rising costs. Summarizing Questions: Based on this assessment of the threats in Dell’s external environment, what actions are required of the company? Due to the drop in revenue stream in the Large enterprise customer segment, Dell looks to the home users and

Small and Medium business segments to increase revenue.

In what ways is Dell’s segment growth strategy likely to succeed or fail? Dell’s segment growth strategy depends on Dell’s ability to detect customer shifts in preferences earlier than its competitors, remaining innovative, and providing value to the customer by simplifying their IT environment and providing customized solutions for their specific needs while keeping costs low How will competitor’s strategies and actions impact Dell’s ability to achieve its growth objectives?

Dell has an extensive product portfolio and strong brand name, and while the threat of substitutes is low, there is increasing competition from new entrants especially in the Home Users market segment How should Dell change its business- and corporate-level strategies to enable growth and meet these challenges? As technology is constantly changing, Dell needs to continue to be innovative, and to look for opportunities created by globalization including possible acquisitions

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  • Dell’s work-in-process Case study
  • Case Study on Dell Supply Chain Management
  • Dell Company is a global leader Case Study
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99 million people included in largest global vaccine safety study

19 February 2024

Health and medicine , Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences

The Global Vaccine Data Network, hosted at the University of Auckland, utilises vast data sets to detect potential vaccine safety signals

Global Vaccine Data Network co-director Dr Helen Petousis-Harris: Latest study uses vast data sets to ensure vaccine safety.

The Global Vaccine Data Network (GVDN) assessed 13 neurological, blood, and heart related medical conditions to see if there was a greater risk of them occurring after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine in the latest of eight studies in the Global COVID Vaccine Safety (GCoVS) Project.

Recently published in the journal Vaccine , this observed versus expected rates study included 99 million people (over 23 million person-years of follow-up) from 10 collaborator sites across eight countries. The study identified the pre-established safety signals for myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (inflammation of the thin sac covering the heart) after mRNA vaccines, and Guillain-Barré syndrome (muscle weakness and changed sensation (feeling)), and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (type of blood clot in the brain) after viral vector vaccines.

Possible safety signals for transverse myelitis (inflammation of part of the spinal cord) after viral vector vaccines and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (inflammation and swelling in the brain and spinal cord) after viral vector and mRNA vaccines were identified.

So far, these findings were further investigated by the GVDN site in Victoria, Australia. Their study and results are described in the accompanying paper. Results are available for public review on GVDN’s interactive data dashboards.

Observed versus expected analyses are used to detect potential vaccine safety signals. These studies look at all people who received a vaccine and examine if there is a greater risk for developing a medical condition in various time periods after getting a vaccine compared with a period before the vaccine became available.

Lead author Kristýna Faksová of the Department of Epidemiology Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark, remarked that use of a common protocol and aggregation of the data through the GVDN makes studies like this possible. “The size of the population in this study increased the possibility of identifying rare potential vaccine safety signals,” she explains. “Single sites or regions are unlikely to have a large enough population to detect very rare signals.”

By making the data dashboards publicly available, we are able to support greater transparency, and stronger communications to the health sector and public.

Associate Professor Helen Petousis-Harris Co-Director, Global Vaccine Data Network hosted at University of Auckland

GVDN Co-Director Dr Steven Black said, “GVDN supports a coordinated global effort to assess vaccine safety and effectiveness so that vaccine questions can be addressed in a more rapid, efficient, and cost-effective manner. We have a number of studies underway to build upon our understanding of vaccines and how we understand vaccine safety using big data.”

GVDN Co-Director Dr. Helen Petousis-Harris said, “By making the data dashboards publicly available, we are able to support greater transparency, and stronger communications to the health sector and public.”

The GCoVS Project was made possible with support by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to allow the comparison of the safety of vaccines across diverse global populations.

About the Global Data Vaccine Network

Established in 2019 and with data sourced from millions of individuals across six continents, the GVDN collaborates with renowned research institutions, policy makers, and vaccine related organisations to establish a harmonised and evidence-based approach to vaccine safety and effectiveness.

The GVDN is supported by the Global Coordinating Centre based at Auckland UniServices Ltd, a not-for-profit, stand-alone company that provides support to researchers and is wholly owned by the University of Auckland. Aiming to gain a comprehensive understanding of vaccine safety and effectiveness profiles, the GVDN strives to create a safer immunisation landscape that empowers decision making for the global community. For further information, visit globalvaccinedatanetwork.org.

Disclaimer: This news release summarises the key findings of the GVDN observed versus expected study. To view the full publication in Vaccine, visit doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.01.100.

This project is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totalling US$10,108,491 with 100 percent funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit cdc.gov

Media enquiries: gvdn@auckland.ac.nz and communications@uniservices.co.nz

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Case Study: Navigating Labor Unrest

  • Jorge Tamayo

study case dell

A factory manager considers whether to accept or resist union demands.

Paulo Ferreira, the president of Luna Brazil, has an ambitious plan to turn around the dismal performance of the plant he oversees in Campinas. The wrinkle is, he needs the buy-in of the powerful local union, which is still smarting from a 10-year-old labor conflict and lately has begun to step up its demands and picket outside the factory. Headquarters, running out of patience with the dispute, wants Paulo to consider converting the plant to a distribution center. But that would mean hundreds of layoffs, which would decimate the local community that Paolo loves.

In the corner office at the Campinas plant of Luna Motors, the dim light of a desk lamp illuminated a series of charts. Paulo Ferreira, the president of Luna Brazil, had been so deep in thought he hadn’t even noticed that it was now dark outside. Each line, curve, and number on the papers in front of him painted a disheartening picture of the plant’s performance: rising defects, increasing absenteeism, and a record high in vehicles lost to labor issues. The plant was no longer competitive within the larger Luna network.

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  • JT Jorge Tamayo is an assistant professor in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School.

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ATX TV Festival to Honor ‘Reservation Dogs’ Star Devery Jacobs With Breakthrough Award, Adds Mike Flanagan Case Study and More to Lineup

By Emily Longeretta

Emily Longeretta

  • ATX TV Festival to Honor ‘Reservation Dogs’ Star Devery Jacobs With Breakthrough Award, Adds Mike Flanagan Case Study and More to Lineup 14 hours ago
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  • ‘Fire Country’ Co-Creator on Plans to ‘Build Out a Franchise’ and Mixed Reactions From Cal Fire Firefighters 5 days ago

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 15: Devery Jacobs attends the 28th Annual Critics Choice Awards at Fairmont Century Plaza on January 15, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images)

“ Reservation Dogs ” star Devery Jacobs will be honored at the 2024 ATX TV Festival . Jacobs will discuss her career as an actor, writer and director on the FX hit, as well as her role in “Echo” and her producorial debut feature film “Backspot,” as she’s awarded the “Breakthrough Award.”

Previous recipients include Angelica Ross and Sydney Sweeney.

On Wednesday, the festival also announced panels with Mike Flanagan and Kate Siegel, a casting panel featuring directors and actors from “The Bear” and “Reservation Dogs” and a live podcast.

During “The Monologue Case Study with Mike Flanagan,” the director will give an inside look at his writing and directing some of his most memorable monologues. Siegel will also have her own conversation, “Fright or Flight: Close Up on Horror Acting with Kate Siegel,” speaking about the complex role women have in the world of horror film and television.

On the “Casting Discoveries: First Gigs and Big Breaks” panel, the teams behind “The Bear” and “Reservation Dogs” will discuss the collaborative process of creating an ensemble, finding new talent and crafting a performance. “Reservation Dogs” casting director Angelique Midthunder and casting associate Stacey Rice will participate along with “The Bear” casting director  Jeanie Bacharach. Additional panelists will be announced soon. 

The Ringer’s original podcast “Trial by Content” will host a live, TV-themed episode with hosts and pop culture authorities Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales and Neil Miller. 

Additionally, actor Toby Huss will join the previously announced “ Halt and Catch Fire” retrospective panel, featuring creators Christopher C. Rogers and Christopher Cantwell, executive producers Melissa Bernstein and Mark Johnson, and cast members Kerry Bishé and Scoot McNairy. 

The ATX TV Festival’s Season 13 will take place May 30-June 2 in Austin, Texas. 

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Reproductive rights in America

Research at the heart of a federal case against the abortion pill has been retracted.

Selena Simmons-Duffin

Selena Simmons-Duffin

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The Supreme Court will hear the case against the abortion pill mifepristone on March 26. It's part of a two-drug regimen with misoprostol for abortions in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images hide caption

The Supreme Court will hear the case against the abortion pill mifepristone on March 26. It's part of a two-drug regimen with misoprostol for abortions in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

A scientific paper that raised concerns about the safety of the abortion pill mifepristone was retracted by its publisher this week. The study was cited three times by a federal judge who ruled against mifepristone last spring. That case, which could limit access to mifepristone throughout the country, will soon be heard in the Supreme Court.

The now retracted study used Medicaid claims data to track E.R. visits by patients in the month after having an abortion. The study found a much higher rate of complications than similar studies that have examined abortion safety.

Sage, the publisher of the journal, retracted the study on Monday along with two other papers, explaining in a statement that "expert reviewers found that the studies demonstrate a lack of scientific rigor that invalidates or renders unreliable the authors' conclusions."

It also noted that most of the authors on the paper worked for the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of anti-abortion lobbying group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and that one of the original peer reviewers had also worked for the Lozier Institute.

The Sage journal, Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology , published all three research articles, which are still available online along with the retraction notice. In an email to NPR, a spokesperson for Sage wrote that the process leading to the retractions "was thorough, fair, and careful."

The lead author on the paper, James Studnicki, fiercely defends his work. "Sage is targeting us because we have been successful for a long period of time," he says on a video posted online this week . He asserts that the retraction has "nothing to do with real science and has everything to do with a political assassination of science."

He says that because the study's findings have been cited in legal cases like the one challenging the abortion pill, "we have become visible – people are quoting us. And for that reason, we are dangerous, and for that reason, they want to cancel our work," Studnicki says in the video.

In an email to NPR, a spokesperson for the Charlotte Lozier Institute said that they "will be taking appropriate legal action."

Role in abortion pill legal case

Anti-abortion rights groups, including a group of doctors, sued the federal Food and Drug Administration in 2022 over the approval of mifepristone, which is part of a two-drug regimen used in most medication abortions. The pill has been on the market for over 20 years, and is used in more than half abortions nationally. The FDA stands by its research that finds adverse events from mifepristone are extremely rare.

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, the district court judge who initially ruled on the case, pointed to the now-retracted study to support the idea that the anti-abortion rights physicians suing the FDA had the right to do so. "The associations' members have standing because they allege adverse events from chemical abortion drugs can overwhelm the medical system and place 'enormous pressure and stress' on doctors during emergencies and complications," he wrote in his decision, citing Studnicki. He ruled that mifepristone should be pulled from the market nationwide, although his decision never took effect.

study case dell

Matthew Kacsmaryk at his confirmation hearing for the federal bench in 2017. AP hide caption

Matthew Kacsmaryk at his confirmation hearing for the federal bench in 2017.

Kacsmaryk is a Trump appointee who was a vocal abortion opponent before becoming a federal judge.

"I don't think he would view the retraction as delegitimizing the research," says Mary Ziegler , a law professor and expert on the legal history of abortion at U.C. Davis. "There's been so much polarization about what the reality of abortion is on the right that I'm not sure how much a retraction would affect his reasoning."

Ziegler also doubts the retractions will alter much in the Supreme Court case, given its conservative majority. "We've already seen, when it comes to abortion, that the court has a propensity to look at the views of experts that support the results it wants," she says. The decision that overturned Roe v. Wade is an example, she says. "The majority [opinion] relied pretty much exclusively on scholars with some ties to pro-life activism and didn't really cite anybody else even or really even acknowledge that there was a majority scholarly position or even that there was meaningful disagreement on the subject."

In the mifepristone case, "there's a lot of supposition and speculation" in the argument about who has standing to sue, she explains. "There's a probability that people will take mifepristone and then there's a probability that they'll get complications and then there's a probability that they'll get treatment in the E.R. and then there's a probability that they'll encounter physicians with certain objections to mifepristone. So the question is, if this [retraction] knocks out one leg of the stool, does that somehow affect how the court is going to view standing? I imagine not."

It's impossible to know who will win the Supreme Court case, but Ziegler thinks that this retraction probably won't sway the outcome either way. "If the court is skeptical of standing because of all these aforementioned weaknesses, this is just more fuel to that fire," she says. "It's not as if this were an airtight case for standing and this was a potentially game-changing development."

Oral arguments for the case, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA , are scheduled for March 26 at the Supreme Court. A decision is expected by summer. Mifepristone remains available while the legal process continues.

  • Abortion policy
  • abortion pill
  • judge matthew kacsmaryk
  • mifepristone
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The State of LGTBQ Inclusion in Video Games

The 2024 GLAAD Gaming Report maps the quantity, quality and diversity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) characters in video games during the 2023 calendar year. Our State of LGBTQ Inclusivity in Gaming Report, measure LGBTQ representation in these forms of media. Similarly, our Social Media Safety Index documents LGBTQ safety across social media platforms. We are transparent about our measurement and are collaborative with industry leaders and businesses. This report was created to educate the game industry on the current state of LGBTQ representation that exists, make a facts-based business case for LGBTQ inclusion, and provide a playbook for more authentic representation.

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PayPal x Ticketmaster – Scaling for Growth

PayPal Editorial Staff

February 22, 2024

Ticketmaster together with PayPal is enhancing and simplifying the payment experience for fans worldwide.

As a global leader in ticket management for large-scale sports and entertainment, Ticketmaster powers artists, promoters, venues, campuses, and more with the world's leading enterprise-grade ticketing software and services.

We recently sat down with Pranay Reddy, VP of eCommerce & Business Development, Live Nation Entertainment and Tin Cheung, Senior Director of Payments, Ticketmaster.

Watch the video to hear more about how the companies are providing a solution that’s scalable, modern, and secure.

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War and Illness Could Kill 85,000 Gazans in 6 Months

Even under the most optimistic scenario, an immediate cease-fire, an additional 6,500 Gazans could perish, scientists estimated.

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An aerial view of a tent camp sheltering displaced Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip. Smoke rising from another community on the horizon.

By Stephanie Nolen

Stephanie Nolen covers global health.

  • Feb. 21, 2024

An escalation of the war in Gaza could lead to the deaths of 85,000 Palestinians from injuries and disease over the next six months, in the worst of three situations that prominent epidemiologists have modeled in an effort to understand the potential future death toll of the conflict .

These fatalities would be in addition to the more than 29,000 deaths in Gaza that local authorities have attributed to the conflict since it began in October. The estimate represents “excess deaths,” above what would have been expected had there been no war.

In a second scenario, assuming no change in the current level of fighting or humanitarian access, there could be an additional 58,260 deaths in the enclave over the next six months, according to the researchers, from Johns Hopkins University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

That figure could climb to 66,720 if there were outbreaks of infectious disease such as cholera, their analysis found.

Even in the best of the three possibilities that the research team described — an immediate and sustained cease-fire with no outbreak of infectious disease — another 6,500 Gazans could die over the next six months as a direct result of the war, the analysis found.

The population of the Gaza Strip before the war was 2.2 million.

“This is not a political message or advocacy,” said Dr. Francesco Checchi, professor of epidemiology and international health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

“We simply wanted to put it at the front of people’s minds and on the desks of decision makers,” he added, “so that it can be said afterward that when these decisions were taken, there was some available evidence on how this would play out in terms of lives.”

Dr. Checchi and his colleagues estimated the projected excess deaths from health data that was available for Gaza before the war began and from that collected through more than four months of fighting.

Their study considers deaths from traumatic injuries, infectious diseases, maternal and neonatal causes, and noncommunicable diseases for which people can no longer receive medication or treatment, such as dialysis.

Dr. Checchi said the analysis made it possible to quantify the potential impact of a cease-fire in lives. “The decisions that are going to be taken over the next few days and weeks matter hugely in terms of the evolution of the death toll in Gaza,” he said.

The projected 6,500 deaths even with a cease-fire is predicated on the assumption there will not be epidemics of infectious disease. With an outbreak of cholera, measles, polio or meningitis, that figure would be 11,580, said Dr. Paul Spiegel, director of the Hopkins Center for the Humanitarian Health and an author of the research, which has not been peer-reviewed.

While it is obvious that a military escalation would bring additional casualties, he added, policymakers should be cognizant of the range in the number of deaths that these scenarios indicate.

“We hope to bring some reality to it,” Dr. Spiegel said. “This is 85,000 additional deaths in a population where 1.2 percent of that population has already been killed.”

Patrick Ball, an expert on quantitative analysis of deaths in conflict who was not involved in the research, said it was unusual to see such a rigorous effort to calculate the potential humanitarian cost of an ongoing war.

“The paper illuminates this conflict in a way that we haven’t had in any prior conflicts,” said Dr. Ball, who is the director of research for the Human Rights Data Analysis Group, a nonprofit organization. “It illuminates the probable costs in human lives and human suffering of different kinds of future actions that are under human control.”

“People are going to make decisions that are going to lead to one of these three scenarios, or some complex mix of them, and this gives us a sense of what the likely outcomes of those decisions are,” he added.

The analysis projects that fatalities from traumatic injuries in Gaza over the next six months will be distributed across all ages and genders.

“Forty-three percent of the trauma deaths occur among females, and 42 percent are among children under 19 years,” the paper says, which “reflects the intensity and widespread nature of bombardment.”

Even with an immediate cease-fire, war-related deaths would continue, according to the analysis. The toll includes deaths of people who succumb to previous injuries or who are hurt by unexploded ordnance, deaths of babies and women for whom complex care in childbirth is not possible, and deaths of undernourished children who are unable to fight off infections such as pneumonia.

“I don’t think people realize how long it will take for that to change,” Dr. Spiegel said.

Stephanie Nolen is a global health reporter for The Times. More about Stephanie Nolen

Our Coverage of the Israel-Hamas War

News and Analysis

For a third time, the United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution  that would have called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, saying that it feared the stop to fighting could disrupt hostage negotiations.

Amid widespread food shortages and a breakdown in civil order, groups of desperate civilians in Gaza are regularly trying to ambush aid convoys , according to Western officials and images reviewed by The New York Times.

Israeli forces killed three people and detained at least 14 others  in an overnight raid in the West Bank city of Jenin. Military raids in the West Bank, common for years, have become far more frequent since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.

South Africa said that Israel’s policies toward Palestinians were “ a more extreme form of apartheid ” during a hearing on the legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories  at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Stranded in Rafah: After months of telling residents in Gaza to move south for safety, Israel now says it plans to invade Rafah, the territory’s southernmost city. Two Gazans describe what it is like to live there right now .

A Father’s Heartache: Beginning in December, Mustafa Abutaha, a professor of English in Gaza who lost a son to the war, sent us dozens of voice and video messages , providing a window inside Nasser Medical Complex before it was raided by Israeli forces.

Building Political Pressure: Omer Neutra and Edan Alexander, young men from the New York area who were serving together in the Israeli military, were taken captive on Oct. 7 near Gaza. Their families now share one urgent goal : to free them.

An Arab Vision for Gaza: Mohammed Dahlan, a Palestinian exile and an adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, provided some insights into what Arab governments are privately planning  for the battered enclave after the war ends.

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COMMENTS

  1. Strategy Study: How Dell's strategy transformed it from a doomed player

    January 23, 2023 Table of contents Here's what you'll learn from Dell's strategy study: How to sustain your company's growth beyond its initial success. How a sober bet for the future fuels your conviction to win. How to think long-term and not sacrifice your future for short-term benefits.

  2. PDF The Business Case for a Sustainable Supply Chain

    Ecosystem Pain Point In this case study, we will outline how Dell uses the concepts of circular economy to address the wider ecosystem pain points described in this section of the case study. E-waste is the world's fastest-growing waste stream, with a relatively low recycling rate overall.

  3. Case study: Dell—Distribution and supply chain innovation

    Case study: Dell—Distribution and supply chain innovation - MaRS Startup Toolkit Foreign Investment in 2024: Fueling Global Growth in Tight Markets Join us as we share crucial insights into the anticipated shifts and emerging trends that will define the funding ecosystem in 2024. Case study: Dell—Distribution and supply chain innovation

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    without notice. Dell makes no warranties — express or implied — in this case study. **Payment solutions provided to qualified commercial customers by Dell Financial Services (DFS) or through Del l Technologies group companies and/o r through Dell's authorized bus iness partners (together with DFS "Dell").

  6. PDF Spring 2024 Dell Customer Service Case Study

    Case Study Dell Technologies Customer Service Overview At Dell Technologies, when a customer has an issue with a purchased product, we strive to offer customer service that not only resolves the issue but leaves the customer with a positive feeling about Dell Technologies.

  7. PDF DOWL: Building the future of civil engineering

    This case study is for informational purposes only. Dell believes the information in this case study is accurate as of its publication date, August 2022. The information is subject to change without notice. Dell makes no warranties—express or implied—in this case study.

  8. Dell: The Business Case for a Sustainable Supply Chain

    Dell is one of the world's largest computer manufacturers and technology companies. The company sells a wide range of IT hardware, software products, and services for enterprise, government, small business, and consumer markets. 1 As a privately held company, Dell has the freedom to pursue a longer time horizon and to commit to changing how it uses its resources.

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    This case study is for informational purposes only. Dell believes the information in this case study is accurate as of its publication date, April 2021. The information is subject to change without notice. Dell makes no warranties—express or implied—in this case study. April 2021 | GOAL-case-study "When we first started, it was:

  10. (PDF) MBA Assignment- A Case Study on DELL

    MBA Assignment- A Case Study on DELL Authors: Lalith Edirisinghe CINEC Campus Abstract What are the advantages to Dell of having manufacturing sites located where they are? What are the...

  11. PDF Staying agile and effective in the 21st century

    One of the task force's first projects was a new BI and analytics solution called the Marketing Analytics Workbench. Its initial application was focused on a select set of use cases around online and ofline commercial customer engagements. This efort was co-funded by Dell's IT and marketing organizations.

  12. Dell Technologies case study

    Published on March 1, 2023 Customer Dell Technologies Summary Among one of the world's leading technology companies, Dell Technologies is committed to transforming business, shaping the future of innovation, and driving human progress.

  13. Case Study

    It can indicate its support for low-carbon innovation by purchasing those products, so in that sense, having a science-based target should stand us in good stead. download case study. Dell commits to reduce its scope 1 and 2 absolute emissions 40% by 2020 from a 2010 base-year. The company also commits to reduce the energy intensity of their ...

  14. A Case Study on Dell Technologies and its CEO, Michael Dell

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  16. Case Study of Dell: Business Innovation and Success

    Dell Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation which is based in Round Rock, Texas, United States. The corporation being the largest technological corporations in the world develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services which employs more than 96000 people.

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    The "unfrozen" campaign. Epsilon and Dell EMC created the "Unfrozen" program: a data-driven content and contact strategy using direct mail, email and retargeting — driving re-engagement and increased revenue. The "Unfrozen" campaign has won multiple awards including: • MediaPost EIS Award: Member's Choice (Lifecycle Category ...

  19. EU AI Act: first regulation on artificial intelligence

    As part of its digital strategy, the EU wants to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure better conditions for the development and use of this innovative technology. AI can create many benefits, such as better healthcare; safer and cleaner transport; more efficient manufacturing; and cheaper and more sustainable energy.. In April 2021, the European Commission proposed the first EU ...

  20. Dell Analysis Case Study

    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 ...

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    That case, which could limit access to mifepristone throughout the country, will soon be heard in the Supreme Court. The now retracted study used Medicaid claims data to track E.R. visits by ...

  25. 2024 GLAAD Gaming Report: The State of LGBTQ Inclusion in Video Games

    The 2024 GLAAD Gaming Report maps the quantity, quality and diversity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) characters in video games during the 2023 calendar year. Our State of LGBTQ Inclusivity in Gaming Report, measure LGBTQ representation in these forms of media. Similarly, our Social Media Safety Index documents LGBTQ ...

  26. Journal Retracts Studies Cited in Federal Court Ruling Against Abortion

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  27. Abortions by Telemedicine and Mailed Pills Are Safe and Effective

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  28. Case Study: Ticketmaster Video

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  29. War and Illness Could Kill 85,000 Gazans in 6 Months

    War and Illness Could Kill 85,000 Gazans in the Next 6 Months, Study Finds. Even under the most optimistic scenario, an immediate cease-fire, an additional 6,500 Gazans could perish, scientists ...