Dells Business Model Revenue Model Information Technology Essay

Dells Business Model Revenue Model Information Technology Essay Michael Dell, a student from university of Texas, Austin founded Dell Computers. At first Dell sold upgrades for IBM compatible PCs and then in 1985 they started to sell its own brand of PCs. Dell operated on the direct sales model, taking orders over the phone and building PCs to the customers specifications. Dell entered the retail PC channel for several years in the early 1990s, but a downturn in business in 1993 led it to return to its roots as a direct vendor (although the company does work with resellers in some markets). Dell grew rapidly and in the mid-1990s, its sales reached an inflection point, soaring from $3.5 billion in 1994 to $25 billion in 1999. By 1999, Dell had become the number one PC seller in the United States, and was number two worldwide. This success has taken place against the backdrop of falling PC prices, brutal competition, and enormous losses by other PC makers. Dell has not only survived, but succeeded in this environment thanks to the fundamental advantages of the direct model, and to its continued efforts to improve its execution of that model. It also has taken advantage of its direct model to build strong, stable relationships with the large corporations and other organizations who are its core customers. Unlike indirect vendors, Dell knows who its customers are and has a great deal of information that it uses to provide a high level of service and support, to target customers for retention and expanded sales, and to sell additional third party hardware and software. But even Dell has not been immune to the turmoil in the PC industry. While its most recent 26% growth rate continues to outpace the industry as a whole, it has not been able to match its earlier growth rates of 50% a year, and was hit hard by t he slowdown in PC sales in late 2000. The result has been a sharp fall in Dells stock price and a reminder that Dell is vulnerable to the brutal price competition and cyclical demand of the PC industry. Nature of products/services In making an examination of the corporate information relating to the Dell Inc company, it is apparent that the Groups principal activity is said to relate towards the designing, developing, manufacturing, marketing, selling and supporting a very vast range of computer systems. Dell is said to operates within four main segments and these are large enterprise, public, small and medium business and consumer segments. Essentially, large enterprise customers are said to include large global as well as national corporate businesses. Among the public customers of Dell include educational institutions, government, health care, and also law enforcement agencies. What is noted here is that small and medium business focuses on providing small and medium-sized businesses with what is said to be the simplest and most complete standards-based IT solutions and also services, that are customized in order to meet their needs. It is apparent that consumer business sells to customers via Dells on-line store, over the phone, and also through retail. Dell is said to offers a wide range of product categories and these including servers, mobility products, software and peripherals, desktop PCs, networking as well as storage (Corporate Information.com Dell Company, 2010). Dells Business Model/Revenue Model A busines model taxonomy like that of Dell is capable of being utilized to identify competitors and is needed to provide a good understanding of their target-market and this is especially in electronic and computing business competitors which can change very fast. The business model is said to be the term used to describe the way that Dell does business and the revenue model is said to lay out the process by which Dell makes money by specifying how it is going to charge in relation to the services provided (1000 Ventures.com Business Models, 2010) It is submitted that six main components of a business model like is used by Dell and these include the following: Value Proposition this is a description of the problem relating to the customer and the solution that addresses the problem as well as the value of this solution in relation to the customers perspective. Market Segment This relates to the group to target, to recognize that different market segments tend to have different needs and there are chances of innovation to be unlocked when a different market segment is targeted. Value Chain Structure This relates to the position and activities of Dell in the value chain and the way that it captures a part of the value which it is said to creates in the chain. Revenue Generation and Margins This relates to the way that revenue is generated, the cost structure, and also the target profit margins. Position in the Value Network This relates to the identification of competitors, complementors, and any sort of network effects which can be utilized by Dell so as to be able to be utilized to deliver more value for Dell customer. Competitive Strategy This relates to the way that Dell attempts to develop a sustainable competitive advantage and to utilize this to improve Dells competitive position in the market. How Does Dell Use E-Commerce to Improve Supply Chain When internet technology arrived, Dell was quick to set up the ecommerce Processes that would enable it to also sell directly online to customers. Selling online allows the whole process to be automated and more efficient. Since 1996 when Dell opened its website www.dell.com for ecommerce, the company has had huge sales success. By 1997 the company recorded $1 million in online sales. By 2000 the companys internet sales had reached $50 Million a day! If we go back to our example above, the customer, Liam, would go to Dells Irish website www.dell.ie to buy his notebook computer. The full Product range is online with detailed information to help him make his decision. He simply follows the easy, automatic instructions that come up on screen. These allow him to customise the computer he wants with the features he needs. He can increase, say, his hard disk space and see the difference that increase makes to the overall price. Then he is given a variety of options on how to pay, either directly online or, via a customer service operator. There is even an automated leasing option available through a financing arrangement that Dell has here with Permanent TSB. Liams order is then passed automatically through to the production department at Dells factory in Limerick where it will be manufactured to his specification, tested and shipped out to him. All of the systems relating to the sale are done through e-commerce: order placement, order tracking, payment processing, inspection, testing and delivery. Similarly, internally at Dell, the whole purchase and procurement of materials is automated between Dell and its suppliers. At www.valuechain.dell.com, Dell shares information with its suppliers on a range of topics, in cluding product quality and inventory. The crucial benefit is the total automation of the whole process, which not Only makes it faster and more efficient, but also much more cost effective, Especially given the volume of business involved. Dells global website Receives more than 1 billion page requests per quarter at 80 country sites in 28 languages and 26 currencies. Dells approach to e-commerce simulates the benefits of face-to-face contact between the buyer and the seller. This ensures that staff can be focused on delivering a quality product and providing excellent customer service and support How Dells E-Commerce Focus Improves Customer Service Dell has created many features and services online to help the customer see the whole purchasing process clearly. The premise of Dells business is selling directly to customers customers tell Dell exactly what they want and Dell provides them with the goods directly. As well as being able to customise the product, customers can track the progress of the order as it is produced and delivered. This can help the customer see the stages of the process and likely delivery times. Customers can create and view their service records online. This includes product support, shipment and delivery dates. Each purchase comes with a service tag code, which can track the model bought and its service requirements. This allows Dell customer service representatives to quickly and efficiently handle requests. This level of 24 hour customer service and fast response time helps Dell build strong customer relations, which of course is crucial for the company in its understanding of customer needs. It is a lso a very cost-effective way of providing sales and support cost savings which can be passed on in the form of better prices to customers. Success depends greatly on the efficient management of the website. The customer must have a convenient experience when shopping online and have faith that Dell will successfully complete the order and safeguard financial details. Customers need to be comfortable using paperless transactions without face-to-face contact. It is crucial that customers consider purchasing online as an alternative to the traditional method of going into a retailer and buying a product off-the-shelf. Dell is focussed on enhancing its image and relationships, not only with customers, but also with employees and the wider community. To do this, the website is also used as a communication tool for news, press releases and general information to help customers, employees, the media and prospective employees find out more about the company. Limitations of E-commerce to the business (DELL) Technological Lack of universally accepted standards for quality, security, and reliability Telecommunication bandwidth is insufficient (mostly for m-commerce) Software development tools are still evolving. Difficulties in integrating the internet and EC software applications and databases. Special web servers are needed in addition to the network servers (added cost) Internet accessibility is still expensive and/ or inconvenient Order of fulfillment of large-scale B2C requires special automated warehouses Non-technological Security and privacy concerns deter some customer from buying Lack of trust in EC among consumers Many legal and public policy issues, including taxations, remain unresolved National and international government regulations sometimes get in the way Difficulty in measuring some benefits in EC. (e.g. advertising,) lack of matured measurement methodology Some customers like to touch and feel the product Adamant to change from physical to virtual store Lack of trust in paperless, faceless transactions Insufficient number (critical mass) of sellers and buyers (some cases) needed to make profit Increasing number of fraud on the net Difficulty to obtain venture capital due to the dot-com disaster Limitations of E-commerce to consumers Physical product and delivery uncertainty (the consumer cannot be sure of the condition of the product he/she is buying. The delivery time can sometimes be longer than expected) Perishable goods (Electronics devices such as computers need to be handled carefully. If not they might get damaged during shipping and delivery) If a product is damaged, returning the good is difficult and sometimes even impossible. The consumer has no guarantee of getting a refund. The cost of returning the goods (posting) has to be sometimes handled by the consumer. Privacy and security (The payment details of the customer might get stolen over the internet due to lack of security thus leading to fraud) The customer has to go through the products with the limited knowledge he/she has. There are no employees to help guide them into buying exactly what they are looking for.

Airborne Case Study Essay

Q1. How and why has the express mail industry structure evolved in recent years? How have the changes affected small competitors? The Express mail industry in the United States had a volume of $16-17 billion on expedited shipments in the year 1996. In the years before shipment volumes has risen 15-20% per year. However due to higher competition prices have fallen which resulted in a rise of only 10-15% in total revenues. As an example of this stands the revenue and the operating margin of the biggest player that make up 45% of the market. Federal Express’ revenue has more than quadrupled in the ten years prior 1996, however its operating margin has more than halved. (Exhibit 2) The increase in shipments is partly due to lower prices, which makes it more attractive for businesses to use shipments more frequently and reduce stocks and inventory to compete on the basis of time to market. Also the price sensitive businesses of catalogue retailers required urgent shipment. In order to cope with the quickly growing numbers of packages (1997 Federal Express delivered 2. million packages a day), the companies started using their own airplanes rather than using commercial airlines to do the job for them. Processes have become highly automated, starting with hand-held computers that give each parcel its own barcode to track it at each stage of its journey. The information is then passed on to central computers that allow customers to follow its deliveries online. Hub facilities are ever growing now being able to sort up to 300,000 packages per hour (UBS hub). Due to high automatization and low margins in the industry it becomes increasingly difficult for second-tier players to survive in the market. Since 85% of the market are in the hand of the three major players; Federal Express, United Parcel Service and Airborne Express, the six second tier players had to find their niche in the market. DHL specified on the international market. The company is responsible for 40% of all trans-border express shipments in America, which makes up to 80% of DHL’s shipments. DHL is also the specialist for services that include fast shipments to the far and hard to reach corners of the world, with hubs situated in Nairobi and Bahrain. TNT’s focus lies on international markets as well, however focuses its efforts on Europe. Another second tier player is BAX Global who specialized in business-to-business heavy cargo. Earlier BAX Global was focused on the market for overnight letters, which resulted in large losses, till the strategy was shifted towards heavy cargo. The company RPS does not offer overnight delivery but focuses on two-day delivery and a cheap group network with a sophisticated information technology, targeting price-sensitive business customers. Q2.  How has Airborne survived, and recently prospered, in express mail industry? In the fife years prior 1997 Airborne Express has grown faster than its two bigger rivals, giving it about 16% of domestic express mail market share in 1997. Airborne has achieved this by a couple of measures that allowed it to keep its costs down and guaranteed Airborne Express success in its niche. One of the key decisions of Airborne Express was to target regularly shipping business customers and purposely passing over residential deliveries and infrequent shippers. Ray Berry, vice president of Field Services Administration, commented this selection of customers: â€Å" Since we can’t be all things to all people, we pick our kind of customer deliberately. † And it has payed off; 1997 Airborne delivered 900,000 packages and documents each day. As a major hub for this serves an airbase in Wilmington, Ohio. In contrast to its competitors Airborne Express owns the airport, which brings some advantages. For example leases Airborne Express warehouse space on the airport to businesses, allowing them to ship merchandize the next day even if orders come in as late as 2AM. Another key factor for low costs is that Airborne Express relies less on automation and more on its human workforce than its competitors; hiring low part-time employees with wages of $7 per hours. Airborne Express’ air fleet distinguishes itself also from the competition. By primarily buying used aircrafts costs are held down. Also the aircrafts are on average 80% loaded; compared to 60% for Federal Express. Furthermore Airborne Express tries to avoid using airplanes whenever possible, resulting in 30% of non-air deliveries compared to 15% non-air deliveries at Federal Express. Since the cost of non-air deliveries is estimated to be only 1/3 of the cost of air deliveries, this depicts how well Airborne Express is able to save money. Another cost reducing factor are independent contractors hired for parcel pick up or delivery that save around 10% of costs compared to company employees. Airborne Express Marketing and Sales team does not invest in costly wide span advertising campaigns, but rather invest in advertising targeting logistic managers of major shippers. Known for its low prices it tries to gain customers, large businesses, with a 500-person sales force and the promise to tailor the services needed for its customers with solution-oriented approaches. Last but not least Airborne Express started to forge a relationship with RPS, an expert for cheap ground deliveries, trying to gain synergies and being able to offer integrated solutions on a case-by-case basis for customers. Q3. What would you recommend Robert Brazier, Airborne’s President and COO, to do in order to strengthen the company’s position?  As the world moves closer together and quick logistics and transportation are getting more and more important, the global express mail market is still growing. In order to secure growth and market share we would advise Airborne Express to push forward the relationship with RPS, maybe consider a merger, to fully gain the synergies. Also it is of key importance to strengthen the position in the market by gaining new customers, providing them with worldwide â€Å"flexible, solution-oriented express† services in the B2B area. This could be achieved by gradually increasing international activities on a customer case-to-case basis.

Facts, Fiction and Persuasive Essay Topics about Pilots

Facts, Fiction and Persuasive Essay Topics about Pilots Persuasive Essay Topics about Pilots Secrets That No One Else Knows About The particular heat range may differ based on the specific substance alone. Write about the wellness issues American population face today and attempt to persuade the reader free medicine is the very best way out. To choose which subject you're likely to discuss, it's essential to see the complete collection of good persuasive speech topics from the special area of study. While folks are generally considered adults at age 18, research implies that the adolescent brain isn't fully developed until age 25. Nonetheless, it would be difficult to argue that the procedure requires quite a little time and concentration. Even should you not own a topic for persuasive essay then it doesn't matter, our writers can help the entire process, from starting to end, and will have the ability to acquire your work done in time, however urgent the deadline might be. You may trust us to supply expert assistance for many of your academic writing needs. Students often stress about searching for utile persuasive essay tips and searching for ideas since they feel it's an uphill job, but the secret is to understand the essence and make a suitable outline first by planning for it correctly. Normally, having three significant arguments to demonstrate your point is sufficient for a convincing paper. Year round school isn't a good idea. Sure, with this kind of an enormous selection of topics to pick from, picking just one may be challenging. There are varying views on whether or not a college education is needed in order to have a prosperous life. The topics must have two sides and they need to be quite interesting. Whenever you do, you are able to now write on topics which will be humorous to them. Take notes concerning all prospective topics you'll be able to consider. Because you have read hilarious persuasive speech topics and can pick the one which you need to write about, you can write a great speech. If you don't find out how to begin your speech, you can come across samples on our site that could help you. Animal abuse is a consequence of an uneducated owner. What's funny to you might not be funny to your readers. Therefore, you've got to locate enough substantial evidence for the specific topic. All persuasive essays are like argumentative essays. SATs ought to be eliminated. Doing this, you'll certainly find your ideal essay title easily and faster. Students with good attendance has to be rewarded. What Has to be Done About Persuasive Essay Topics about Pilots So locating the very best persuasive essay topics is critical. Overall, you can observe that writing a persuasive essay isn't a brain surgery. Always bear in mind a great persuasive essay ought to be persuasive. The finest persuasive essays persuade the reader to agree with a certain point of view, perspective or maybe to take a particular action. Some teachers, but do not segregate the topics into the distinct educational levels but assign each of the funny persuasive essay topics to all and permit the students to compose the essays since they like. At times, employing the exact same topics over and over again makes students bored and not able to find inspiration to compose essays. A great deal of students have a tendency to find writing a persuasive essay a little challenging as a result of essence of the essay and its dynamics. In any case, a firmly humorous speech intends to produce the audience laugh. Persuasive essays share a good deal of resemblance with argumentative essays. A lot of people have the thought that persuasive speeches ought to be reserved for serious topics of debate. One of the serious hiccups in choosing funny argumentative essay topics is how comedy is a rather touchy field, and various folks have various opinions of what comedy is about. Suppose, you're delivering a speech whose main purpose is to deliver information or ideas. Still, figuring out the ideal topic for your essay isn't your only concern for a student. Any idea can prove to be a wonderful foundation for a topic. At exactly the same time, it's an excellent persuasive essay idea.

Comparison Between Plato And Plato - 732 Words

The analogy of the divided line that Plato proposed dealt with two sections divided into two more sections. The bottom part of the line can be labeled as what is not, here contains what is of the imagination or copies of the sensible and or images. Moving up the divided line, we then reach the top of the bottom sections, which contains the belief or the sensible. Entering the first part of the top section, what is thought or the scientific forms are encountered. Following that section at the top is knowledge or the form; the top of the line is labeled as what is. Now once someone understands the two extremes of what is and what is not in relation to Plato and his divided line, then it becomes clear why he only allows only specific pieces of art. When it comes to poetry and actual paintings then Plato becomes very unsettle because of the imitations that they posses whether it be a painting of tree or poem that is very relatable. When a painter creates a painting, he or she first use s the imagination to visually create a tree in the mind. Once then when the painting in the mind is actually drawn, it essentially holds no value for it is not the actual tree. A painter can artistically manipulate how a tree actually looks but it still would not be considered good enough art for his Republic. Then someone can get into the genetic and biological make up of the tree in an artistic way, which then will bring it closer to being exhibited in the republic. Now when the tree isShow MoreRelatedComparison Between Plato And Plato1101 Words   |  5 Pagessociety, the state of nature, equality, and the state of war. They distinguish how the people and government help create a well-oiled society. Comparing Plato to Rousseau, the beginning of philosophy to a more modern perspective. 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