Dell Computers' mission statement, products, and competitive success

¶ … Dell Computers. The writer explores the company mission statement, products and competition to provide an overview of its success. There were three sources used to complete this paper.

Today's business world is as competitive as ever. With globalization and the Internet abilities the computer market has exploded with growth in the past decade. One of the top competitors in the industry is Dell Computers. Dell is based in Lebanon, Tennessee and recently took the number one slot for personal computer sales.

The driving element of Dell Computers was when they opened in the 1980's was to provide a personal computer to customers without a middle man (Dell, 1999). The premise of the company was that allowing a customer to order directly from Dell without involving a retail store sale would significantly cut the cost of the computer sale while at the same time allowing the company to get a first hand understanding about what each customer wanted in his or her computer.

CEO of the corporation,. Michael Dell is quick to credit the Internet with much of his company's success. The ability to order online and have a product shipped directly to the customer opened a worldwide market for the industry (Dell, 1999).

Today, Dell is named the number one contender in the personal computer sales industry, recently taking the title away from former industry giant Compaq Computers (Pletz, 2001).

MISSION STATEMENT

When a business starts up that business creates a mission statement. The mission statement provides a blueprint idea about what the company wishes to accomplish in the world.

The mission statement of Dell Computers is short and direct.

Dell's mission is to be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best customer experience in markets we serve. In doing so, Dell will meet customer expectations of: Highest quality: Leading technology: Competitive pricing: Individual and company: accountability: Best-in-class service and support: Flexible customization capability: Superior corporate citizenship and financial stability (Mission statements (http://www.hhpublishing.com/_onlinecourses/study_strategies/BSL/motivation/E5.html)."

The company serves the public's need for computer products. While many company's state that they are there to serve the consumer or the public, they are also serving the retail outlets that they sell their products to. They do not sell directly to the consumer, therefore their orders and their directives come from the retail chain that chooses to stock and sell the product. The retail chain is the who buys the product therefore the company that builds the computer has a loyalty to them. With Dell the mission statement is directed at the consumer. It is the consumer that gets online or picks up the phone and orders a Dell product. It is the consumer that makes or breaks the sales quotas and goal of Dell and it is the consumer who has a direct impact on whether Dell succeeds or fails in its endeavor.

Sells to retail outlets for consumer purchase

Dell competes by removing the middleman from the equation (Dell, 1999). Dell built its company on the belief that hearing directly from the consumer wanted was superior to trusting a third party to project or to paraphrase what the customer wants. In addition the company does not build a computer until it is ordered which cuts down on storage needs for built but unsold machines as well as manpower hours to build yet unsold machines (Dell, 1999).

Two of the three Porter generic strategies can be applied to the methods of Dell Computers. The fact that Dell cuts out the middle man and keeps product prices competitive by doing so applies the Cost Leadership Strategy.

Differentiation Strategy is seen in Dell's unique marketing device by which customers order directly from the company and detail their computer needs. The computer is then custom built to the consumer's specification which makes the consumer feel that they are getting a better product.

The two primary competing attributes for Dell are ease of ordering and the fact that each product is custom built to the consumer's specifications.