Implementing Six Sigma: Smarter Solutions Using Statistical Methods - Essay Example

It is in this context that since its inception, the company had been strategically designing its products focussing on the customers’ needs. By adopting the customer-centric strategies, Dell was determined to become the low-cost leader while providing high-value products and services (Dell, 2012). After successfully doing business in the global markets for almost a decade, Dell began facing challenges in terms of competition, rapidly losing its market share and witnessing a reduction in its customer bases (Paul & et. al., 2007).

Furthermore, the company was losing its market share in all the segments, namely, desktops, servers, and notebooks during the same year to its major competitors. Notably, the major factors that led to the declining market share of Dell from all segments can be identified as the company’s emphasis on its traditional business model lacking in terms of innovation and transformation. Due to the company’s resistance to change in the global competitive market, other players in this industry such as HP and Lenovo emerged as the new leaders.

They focussed on the emerging markets and segments such as Laptops, whereas Dell with a market share of 4.2% ranked eighth among other manufacturers (Paul & et. al., 2007). Drivers for Strategic Change In today’s modern era, the process or rather the conception of change is attributed as the only continuous and inevitable phenomenon of the business world. Due to the incessant changes occurring in the external business environment, businesses are becoming increasingly swayed to implement strategic changes in their business processes.

It is in this context that due to the ongoing changes in the global business environment, business entities are forced to alter their operational vision, goals, and methodologies too often causing the risk of unplanned and chaotic changes in the working process which in turn are quite likely to give rise to perplexity within the human resources and thus lead towards a greater disruption in the overall operational functions of the organization. Taking these aspects into concern, the major drivers of change in today’s business context can be stated as the alterations in the external business environment in terms of innovation, competition, legal as well as economic variations, and social changes which accumulatively lead to the alterations of consumer needs, demands along with their perceptions (Yokota & et. al., 2005).

Focus Areas for Enhanced Business Performance In today’s global scenario, competition, and financial liberalization are considered to be the most influential factors that effectually enable a company to sustain in the prevailing fierce competition. Consequently, with the effect of such fierce competition and the growing need for product differentiation, quality has emerged to be one of the prime concerns of global companies in order to enhance its competitive advantages over its rivals.