Business Operations in Dell Organization - Research Paper Example

Dell happens to be one of such companies that operate in a highly competitive information and communication technology market, where innovation and dynamism is a key factor for achieving organizational growth and development. On a constant basis, end users in this market are looking for new waves of creativity and change. The trend of demand, therefore, keeps changing in a manner that is hardly predictable without the use of key forecasting principles and techniques (Taylor, 2006). This paper will therefore be committed to identifying some of the ways through which demand management and demand forecast can be used by Dell as strategies in supply chain management to gain competitive advantage. B. DEMAND MANAGEMENT AT DELL i.

Sale forecasting 1. Sale forecasting shall be defined and thoroughly explained from the perspective of two or three writers, including Mentzer et al. (2007). 2. The role of sale forecasting in supply chain management shall be deduced by the use of the definitions given by the various authors. 3. The paper shall find out various approaches that different organizations, particularly Dell, use in undertaking its sale forecasting and the efficacy of this approach is yielding competitive advantage. ii.

Planning 1. The paper shall seek to define planning from the perspective of two or more writers and, based on these definitions, give an explanation of the meaning of the team. 2. The specific activities that Dell performs as part of planning shall be reviewed with an emphasis on the efficacy of these approaches. 3. A comparative analysis of Dell’s approach to approaches used by other competitors shall be undertaken to know how Dell derives its competitive advantage from planning. iii. Integration of sale forecasting with planning 1.

Some core reasons for which major multinational companies combine sale forecasting with planning shall be outlined. 2. The effectiveness of the integration of sales forecasting with planning at Dell shall be discussed. 3. Best practices that can lead to the full potential of integration of sale forecasting and planning shall be reviewed. C. DEMAND FORECASTING AT DELL i. Models of Demand Forecasting 1. A utility-based demand forecasting model shall be discussed as an alternative to demand forecasting that can be used at Dell. 2. Exogenous demand forecasting model shall also be reviewed as an alternative of demand forecasting that can be used at Dell ii.

Analysis of sales forecasting management 1. Analysis of sales forecasting management shall be explained with 2. Real-life examples of how various companies have analyzed their sales forecast shall be given. 3. The effects that various companies derived from the analysis of sales shall be explained iii. Benefits of true analysis of sales forecasting 1. The potential of demand forecasting in supply chain management, leading to the right manufacturing logistics, shall be reviewed 2. The advantages that come with demand forecasting through the right manufacturing logistics practices shall be outlined 3.

In comparison to Mentzer et al. (2007), the discussion shall investigate if true analysis of sales forecasting is a waste of time because they produce no results. D. Conclusion A number of important points can be deduced from the discussions, from which very affirmative conclusions can be drawn on how Dell can use supply chain management to gain competitive advantage. Generally, the various literature reviewed shows that one of the best ways for Dell to gain a competitive advantage is to be proactive with its demand management principles (Petersen et al., 2005).

It can therefore be concluded that the absence of rigorous demand management will not guarantee a competitive advantage in the use of supply chain management. Consequently, Dell is obliged to have a critical review of its current demand management principles to ensure that it is structured in a way that digs deep into the core needs of its end users so as to ensure that products and services offered are those that end-users wish to have. In most cases, companies have ignored the need for their customers to have a say in the supply chain by refusing to integrate customer-ended approaches into their management steps.

The result of this has been that where other competitors use research and development to identify the needs of their customers, they are able to produce better supply chain results that meet customer needs and thus become the preferred destinations of customers, hence gaining competitive advantage. What is more, it has been established that in relation to a type of demand management that is customer-centred, it is important to have demand forecasting that is equally customer-centred. To this end, the use of the exogenous demand forecasting model is preferred over the utility-based demand forecasting model because the former always make considerations for what customers may identify as their favourite products and would subsequently buy from (Taylor, 2006).