good one bro.... On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 6:54 PM, RGM <[email protected]> wrote:
> Almost two years ago I attended the Dell analyst meeting in Austin to > hear about the rollout of the new management team and the new business > plan Michael Dell was embracing upon his return to the company. After > a day of presentations when all the new top folks were assembled on > the dais, what was shockingly clear was that Mr. Dell had assembled > yet another team of men. > > Women have risen to the top of lots of other tech companies over the > last 20 years, but never at Dell ( DELL - news - people ), and there > was no departure from that in the new group. I raised my hand and > observed that it was quite clear that the opposite of the successful > ad campaign "Dude, you're getting a Dell" was true: "If you bought > Dell you were getting a dude!" > > Now it appears I was wrong. If you buy Dell you are getting a dud. > > Eight quarters have elapsed since the supposed turnaround was > undertaken. Still there is little evidence of an upward turn at Dell. > Two years is an eternity in the world of tech. Each quarter the > emphasis has changed on what went wrong. In some quarters the top > honchos decided that it was best to reach for sales. Then when margins > collapsed they altered their view. > > They thought it was best to reduce the number of product lines, > simplify the choices for customers, emphasize margins and drive less > for sales. They have moved manufacturing out of the U.S. and also > trimmed jobs outside and inside its borders. At various times > international business was going to be the lead dog. At other times > focus was on reaching into retail channels to better compete for U. S. > consumers where Dell was not top dog. > > Michael Dell is no Steve Jobs. Michael Dell only ever did one truly > clever thing: He decided to assemble computers in his dorm room and > sell them directly to his very local customers without a middleman. He > rode that direct-to-you formula to great success and mammoth wealth. > > > Professional managers were brought in and took the company into being > a provider to the largest companies and away from being the low-cost > provider. However, Dell as a company never had an original idea in its > corporate life beyond the direct model that caused other companies to > sit up and take notice. It is an assembler of computers, a reseller of > other related products and not ever an innovator. It spends all of > 1.18% of its revenues on research. > > > Jobs on the other hand has been an innovator forever at Apple ( AAPL - > news - people ), at Pixar and then at Apple again. Over the last few > years Apple has introduced the iPod, the iPhone, iTunes, the App Store > and now the iPad. While Dell cut R&D spending last year, Apple > increased it. > > Jobs wants to own proprietary hardware and software that you can't get > anywhere else. He wants to forge new industries and product > categories. Apple spends 2.5% to 3% on R&D--and we see how well it > spends that money in constantly expanding its own unique product > lineup. Jobs wants a moat around his intellectual property. > > More From: > > http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/23/dell-computer-apple-markets-steve-jobs.html?feed=rss_popstories >
