Dell The personal computer industry in 1998 was attractive. Using Porter's five forces analysis, the reasons for this attractiveness can be determined (QuickMBA, 2010). Most computer makers have a moderate amount of bargaining power over suppliers. The handful of major computer makers have high volume and the inputs are not sufficiently differentiated, both factors that give some power to the computer maker. There are also low switching costs within the industry.

This represents a shift in corporate strategy. The company for most of its existence operated as a niche player, essentially utilizing a differentiated focus strategy. The current strategy, however, has been to downplay the exclusivity it long sought to cultivate and focus on a broad differentiation strategy instead (Burrows et al., 2007). Apple has continued in recent years with this strategy. The company has continued to release different iPhone version

The core competencies identified for this paper include: (1) data management (2) personnel management (3) strategic planning and (4) the ability to create technological innovation. Realistically speaking, a company must integrate all of its capabilities to assess its position in the market, and to determine which if any of its core competencies it must work on developing further to maintain a stable position in a volatile workplace. The computer

To some users of personal computers, who state, never trust a computer that you cannot lift; the IBM has been viewed, more often than not, as an enemy, and according to Byte, the computer magazine, this was because of the fact that the IBM company rose to fame mainly on the basis of its mainframe computers, that were large and forbidding, and overwhelmingly bulky. This was probably why, when

As with other information technology jobs, outsourcing of software development to other countries may temper somewhat employment growth of computer software engineers. Firms may look to cut costs by shifting operations to foreign countries with lower prevailing wages and highly educated workers. Jobs in software engineering are less prone to being off shored than are jobs in other computer specialties, however, because software engineering requires innovation and intense research

Supply Chain Characteristics There are five critical characteristics of supply chain in relation to the personal computer analysis. One of the essential characteristics of supply chain is the view of the process as an important asset. This makes it important for the organization to incorporate supply chain within the products and marketing strategies. Another critical characteristic is integration of new technologies with the aim of minimizing the cost of provision of