Applying New Concepts Practically - Preliminary Prequalification of the Dell Australian Company - Case Study Example

Designing to Apply New Concepts Practically Designing to Apply New Concepts Practically Dell Australian Official Website Dell Australia is a multi- national company that deals with the manufacturing and supply of gadgets. The main aim of Dell Australia is to empower customers, people, communities and countries globally through the use of technology. The technology that is delivered by Dell help the customers to achieve more despite the area that they are: home, work or school. The products that are offered by Dell Australia include Laptops, Tablets PCs and Desktops. Additional products are Monitors, Servers, Storage, Printers and Computer Accessories (Dell. 2015). Website Assistance in Preliminary Prequalification of the Company Sadegi and Pagamsuren (2012) states that prequalification is the initial act that helps in the identification of top quality suppliers. The process is normally competitive in nature, with several suppliers taken into consideration for the contract opportunities. The prequalified suppliers normally have a performance record that can be found in the market place. These records can be from commercial entities or government and normally shows the capability. The previous data helps to determine the consistency in reliability and quality of the company. This method helps to determine the capability of the company to perform at high standards. The prequalification is to determine if Dell is among the best options for goods and services routine purchase. Dell Preliminary Prequalification for the Tablet PCs Drew and Skitmore (1993, 365) states that preliminary prequalification is normally done to get the value of money. This is through getting the competitive advantage that, will there be monetary value. The factors to consider for evaluation include past performance, supplier capability, after sale services among others. Using this criterion, the evaluation of suppliers is possible. The preliminary prequalification therefore helps in determining who to add on or remove from the prequalified list. Determining if Dell is the Right Supplier: Kim and Shim (2014, 70) argue that to ensure that the success of the project it is important to determine and identify right suppliers. Identification of the right supplier determines the success of the project. The better the supplier identified the better the services that are to reach the customers from the supplier. Having the right suppliers, therefore, reduces the risks that are operational in nature. If the supplier is worth- while, then the programme to issue innovative and high quality services. The idea here is to determine if Dell Australian Company has the most innovative ideas and deliver high quality products and services. On the website, this information can be gotten at the customer engagement section of the company. Dell Australia is a customer focused thus all of its activities are for the betterment of the customer expectations. This section of the website gives the customer stories, how business can be used to empower women and Dell ventures. This section of the website also gives the structuring of Dell that makes it exceptional in reaching the customers. The Dell Australia has a Dell Solution Centre (DSC), Customer Briefing Centre (CBC) and Customer Advisory Panel (CAP) sections. The DSC has labs that work on the products and expertise that ensures the solution as per the customers is reached. The CBC offers platforms for leaders and customer discussion. The main aim of this platform is to discuss and solve customer issues. At the CAP, customers give their ideas in relation to Dell products, thus making the products holistic (Dell. 2015). Dell Australia Past Performance: The past of the company normally tends to influence its future. A company that previously has performed well in contracts is more likely to be trusted by additional contracts. This is because through the previous contracts, one can tell the SCM (Supply Chain Management) level of the company or organization. Inclusion of a company’s past performance, therefore, is an important means of ensuring quality supplies. The past performance evaluation should include factors such as: Quality, Timeliness, Company’s Relations and Cost control (Drew and Skitmore 1993, 371). Quality refers to the sticking to the contract standards and requirements thus good workmanship. Performance timeless shows the conformance to the schedules as per the contract. The conformation normally includes the performance administrative aspects. Business relations normally show the ability of the company to cooperate and reason with the customers. This helps to determine is capability to satisfy customers and how integral and ethical the company is. The cost control procedure is the act of checking records of the company. The records checked are mainly those that deal with costs on changes and reimbursement. Emphasis is normally laid on the comparison of these features against other companies. The evaluation of the past performance of the company makes the process to be competitive. The Dell Australian Company past performance can be found through the website use. This can be done through clicking ‘company’, then ‘customer engagement’, the lastly ‘customer stories’. The stories are given in different languages, making it easy to understand. The languages are based on the regions thus giving 18 different sections to choose from. The information in reference to the past performance can be got through the ‘features stories section.’ This section gives a story by the customers in relation to the services and products of the Dell Australia Company. The story in reference to quality can be determined through the section ‘How Dell Does it.’ This section gives the information in relation to how the company relates to the customers. The services involved and the after sell services that the company offers. It gives the information in relation to use to technology that eases the communication between the two. More information in reference to past performance can be got through: ‘Featured Videos’, ‘Infographics’ and ‘Partner Enabled’ sections (Dell. 2015). Dell Australia Supply Capability: Hatush and Skitmore (1997a, 130) believe that one of the main effective evaluation means is determining the supplier capability. Capability of the supplier is normally used as an evaluation tool to determine its ability to perform once awarded the contract. There are normally some key elements that are used to determine the supplier’s capability. These include: the suppliers’ ability to get the adequate and necessary resources. These resources can be in the form of finance or technology that helps in work performance. The ability of the company to meet the delivery schedule that is proposed is also important. The business ethics and record of integrity also plays a role in the evaluation. The quality of the control program can be used to get a company into the prequalification list. It is also important to consider the company’s experience, organization, technical skills and property and production controls. The capability of the company in terms of acquisition of the necessary materials is important. The best company to consider is those eligible and qualified to receive an award as the governing regulations and laws. Part of the information can be got through accessing the ‘customer’ engagement section of the website. Addition to that, their information in relation section of ‘Legal and Regulatory’ compliance will help determines the capability of Dell. The information in the ‘Privacy Statement’ section will help in determining if Dell Australia is the right choice. Additional sites that give the relevant information are the ‘Career’, ‘Terms of Sale’ among others (Dell. 2015). Importance of Prequalification to the Project Management Organization Prequalification process will help to reduce the number of bidders to qualified bidders only. This will reduce the bid preparation cost, thus relieving the organization from unnecessary costs. The bidding process will also ensure that the prominent suppliers get into the play field. This is due the fact that they will be aware that the competition is based on qualification. This will attract those major companies in the international markets, thus improve the organizations products and service quality (Hatush and Skitmore 1997b, 22). The prequalification procedures will help in the measuring of level of interest among the potential bidders. This allows for revision of the bidding conditions so as to see that the project gets the best. This process of revision can be used to ensure efficiency and effectiveness on the part of the supplier. In return, this will make the organization to produce goods effectively and efficiently. According to Lo, Krizek and Havadi (1999, 603), bid evaluation among the qualified bidders will automatically lead time savings. This is through elimination of the non qualified suppliers from Procuring Entity at an early stage of the procurement process. This will ensure that the pressure associated with the unqualified and marginal bidders is eliminated. The pressure is normally introduced by the fact that the unqualified suppliers normally tend to come with low prices. These prices are normally tempting and may make one forego the long term benefits of it. Through this process the company is therefore able to determine supplier that will ensure high quality products are given. The supply will also have the opportunity to consider the real market value so as not to lose in the long run. Hatush and Skitmore (1997b, 35) argue that the evaluation process normally gives an early indication of procurement process capability. This makes the organizers of the Procurement entity to be proactive in nature rather than reactive. In return, these will limit the losses that are associated with negative impacts that could have been prevented. The process will allow full preparation through the introduction of the necessary improvements. These improvements will be made at the initial stage of the procurement process thus effective and efficient. The prequalification process will also allow the development of joint ventures since the two parties get to know each other. Joint ventures are situations where the suppliers come together to bid as an entity. This normally happens in the scenario where the subsequent suppliers can’t meet the threshold set. It can also be due to the fact that ‘bigger’ suppliers are in the evaluation competition. The ‘smaller’ suppliers, therefore, come together to consolidate their winning chances. This will help the organization to have several options of appropriate quality and that meet the threshold set (Sadegi and Pagamsuren. 2012) This paper discusses the preliminary prequalification of the Dell Australian Company. The prequalification is done through laying emphasis on the website of the company. The factors that play a role as far as preliminary prequalification are identified and discussed as per the company’s website. The paper ends with the discussion of the advantages that will be got by the organization in relation to the process. References Dell. 2015. Company Information. http://www.dell.com/learn/au/en/aucorp1/about-dell (Accessed March 17, 2015) Drew, D., and Skitmore, M. “Prequalification and C- competitiveness.”International Journal of Management Science 3, (1993): 363- 376 Hatush, Zedan and Skitmore, Martin. 1997a. Evaluating contractor prequalification data: Selection Criteria and Project Success Factors. Construction Management and Economics 2:129- 147 Hatush, Z., and Skitmore, M. 1997b. Criteria for Contractor Selection. Construction Management and Economics 1: 19- 38. Kim, S., and Shim, J. 2014 . Combining case- based reasoning with algorithm optimization for preliminary cost estimation in construction industry. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering 223: 65- 73 Lo, W., Krizek, R., and Hadavi, A. 1999. Effects of high prequalification requirements. Construction Management and Economics 5: 603-12. Sadegi, C., and Pagamsuren, L. 2012. ANALYSIS OF THE TAVAN TOLGOI TENDER. http://en.mongolianminingjournal.com/content/18745.shtml (Accessed March 17, 2015)   Read More