Logistic Management: Dell's Supply Chain Strategy

Running head: LOGISTIC MANAGEMENT
Logistic Management
Name of the Student:
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Background of the case....................................................................................................................2
Fundamental Reasons for Dell’s Success........................................................................................3
Method of Maintaining Competitive Advantage.............................................................................4
Dell’s Business Model Analysis......................................................................................................6
Concept of Sustainability and suitability for Dell...........................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Logistic management is one component of supply chain management, which is designed
for meeting the customer demands through effective planning, controlling, and implementing
process. According to Waters and Rinsler (2014), logistic management helps reducing the
expenses and enhancing the customer services that develops the reputation of the company. The
case study provides the insightful knowledge about Dell’s CTO supply chain strategy that led the
company towards immense success. The study would concentrate on the strategic direction that
is required to be undertaken to maintain the competitive advantage. The description of the case
scenario would be helpful for suggesting the best practices to develop the effective supply chain
process.
Background of the case
Dell has been a growing firm since the establishment in 1984 by the medical student
Michael Dell. In late 2013, Michael Dell took the complete control of 75% of the company. The
company has achieved their ascribed success due to their expertise in SCM (Mangan, Lalwani,
and Lalwani 2016). In 1983, the company built up most of their success story with the help of the
greater distribution strategy. Dell has been looking forward to exploit the opportunities of the
technological advancements. Dell has invested in the customer relationship process in order to
stay close to the customers. Similarly, the company concentrates on evaluating cost-to-serve
different designing products and customer segments accordingly. Dell has been using internet
extensively. The company mainly uses this medium to communicate with the customers. The
extensive use of the internet by the customers can help in understanding the features of the
products and specific services as per their demands (Stadtler 2015). The third party logistic

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partners are involved for delivering the finished products to the customers. Dell uses internet as
the key strategy that allows the company to communicate with the customers directly. It provides
the real-time visibility of purchasing patterns. The company has established the standardization
and postponed the manufacturing process, which is considered as the “mass customization”.
Another initiative undertaken by the company is the focused manufacturing and building to
order. This distribution process saves the invested amount and increases the customer base by
delivering the product as per their expectations. The further study would highlight the
fundamental reasons for Dell’s success and the method of managing the competitive advantages.
Fundamental Reasons for Dell’s Success
Dell maintains a real distribution strategy, which is the most prioritized segment of the
organisational functionalities. It is already specified that the company sells the computers direct
to the customers without involving any intermediary (Crane et al. 2015). Therefore, the
customers have been receiving faster delivery of the products and services in compare to other
companies. On the other hand, it has been observed that the company maintains the high level of
customer relationships to maintain the remarkable brand reputation. The strong visibility
developed through internet is much appreciable for creating the direct communication with the
potential clients (Dell.com 2018). When the customers receive the greater opportunity to
maintain a transparency while communicating with the company, it generates the sense of
reliability. Eventually, this strategy leads towards retaining a large number of customer bases. In
addition to this, Dell has utilized the opportunity of the technological advantages to introduce
more innovations on their electronic products (Gibson, Rosen and Stucker 2015). It has been
observed that the company has the smaller number of the common platforms that are even
customized as per the demands of the customers. Therefore, the products manufactured in the