Dell Inc. in 2006 Competitive Strategy - Essay Example

Dell Inc. in 2006 Competitive Strategy Michael Dell’s leadership style Organizations of modern times are structures, where a ‘collage’ of employees will do their allocated work, under the management of a leader. A leader can only manage the various human filled departments and take the organization on a successful path. A successful leader is one, who with his/hers leadership traits will be able to ‘sprinkle’ success on the organization, including on the lives of the workers, and Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Inc, the computer major, is one such successful leader.

One of the main leadership traits is trying new approaches and also encouraging new approaches from the subordinates, which can be implemented with minimum risk. Michael Dell is one such leader, who always tries new approaches, as he has done in the case of Personal computers. “Michael Dell demonstrates the power of the leader whose authenticity and openness to learning pervades and motivates an entire company.” (sodexhousa.com). Another trait of Michael Dell, which is considered crucial to the success of Dell, is not resting on laurels, but moving on to do better things as quickly as possible.

Michael Dell (2003 qtd in Business week) says: “Celebrate for a nanosecond. Then move on.” So, these are the few of the many leadership traits of Michael Dell, which is contributing to the growing success of Dell Inc. and makes it one of the top manufacturers of PC’s and Servers.SWOT analysisStrength: Dell through Direct Channel Method is able to offer the customers, customized and richly configured systems at competitive prices. It also introduces new technologies quite quickly, than its competitorsWeakness: Because of the customization, Dell had to depend on its suppliers’ to set the price and importantly for updates and process improvements.

Opportunities: It has opportunities to develop technologically and geographically. That is, as its suppliers improve their technologies, Dell can also provide technologically improved products. Then with many developing countries becoming computer savvy; Dell can reach their marketsThreat: With some of the Dell products, particularly Laptops, exploding due to malfunctions, the image of Dell as a provider of safety products is under threat. So, SWOT analysis of Dell reveals that it has a lot of strengths and opportunities to maintain its market share and provide quality innovative products at competitive prices.

But, at the same time, it has weaknesses and threats, which can affect its production and also could damage its brand image.Porter’s Value Chain and sustainable competitive advantage Porter’s Value Chain encapsulates the integration of value to the products from the extraction or usage of raw materials to the sale of the finished product to the ultimate customer, whilst taking into account organizational, technological and human factors. In the case of Dell, the inbound logistics is the various high tech computer related components from the suppliers, which are already value added.

These components are only assembled or integrated by the Dell workers as part of the operations to provide a finished product. The outbound logistics are also handled by Dell, as it markets and sells its products by itself, without any middlemen. It also has fully equipped service centers, established in various parts of the world. So, this chain, provides Dell a competitive edge over its competitors, as it manufactures products, integrating quality components from its suppliers, and is selling the finished products directly to the customers.

Reference:Dell, M. (qtd in Business week). What You Dont Know About Dell. [online]. [Accessed 12th January 2008]. Available from World Wide Web:http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_44/b3856001_mz001.htmsodexhousa.com. Leading the agile organization means not knowing it all. [online]. [Accessed 12th January 2008]. Available from World Wide Web:http://www.sodexhousa.com/fast_forwards/volume_2/V2I4.pdf.