Comparison of Supply Chain Management: Dell, Zara and Myer

Running head: COMPARISON OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
COMPARISON OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1COMPARISON OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................2
The reasons behind the success of Dell..........................................................................2
Comparison of Dell with Zara and Myer...................................................................4
The steps taken by Dell to main their competitive advantage.......................................7
Effectiveness of the strategies that are used by Dell......................................................8
Sustainability and its relevance to Dell..........................................................................9
References....................................................................................................................10

2COMPARISON OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Introduction
Dell is a multinational organization of the American origin which operates in the field
of computer technologies. The organization has its headquarters in Round Rock, Texas,
United States. The company mainly sells, develops, supports and repairs computers and
computer related products as well. The founder of the organization is Michael Dell and the
company has been able to receive the position of one of the biggest technology corporations
in the world. The organization employs more than 103,300 people all over the world. The
products sold by the company include, servers, personal computers, data storage related
services, software, network switches, cameras, MP3 players, printers and other electronic
devices (Dell.com 2018). Dell is also well-known in the industry for the innovation that it has
made in the supply chain management related activities. Dell has grown in a huge manner
after its establishment in the year 1984. The company has also received the 51st rank in the
Fortune 500 list in the year 2013. The distribution strategy of the organization is one of the
major reasons behind its success in the industry. The supply chain of the organization has
been able to make the organization successful in the industry in which it has its operations
(Dell.com 2018).
The report will be based on the analysis of the various supply chain related strategies
that are used Dell and has further contributed to the success of the organization. The two
organizations that are considered for comparison with Dell are Zara and Myer. Myer is the
weaker organization and Zara is the company which a has a stronger supply chain.
The reasons behind the success of Dell
The major reason behind the huge success of Dell has been unique supply chain
related strategies that have been used by the organization. The main strategy used by the
company is selling its products directly to the customers and further avoiding the needs for

3COMPARISON OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
intermediaries that enables the product to reach faster to the customers. The organization has
invested a huge amount in the customer relationship management related activities which
have enabled Dell to operate closely with the customers. The use of internet is the key
element of the strategy that is used by Dell. The key attribute of the supply chain of Dell is
the visibility of the supply chain of the organization related to the systems of production and
sales (Beske and Seuring 2014). The warehouse space that is required by the organization is
also quite less as the suppliers provide their products just-in-time directly to the production
line of Dell. These suppliers are the major contributors to the success of Dell in the industry.
Dell is a 57 billion-dollar organization is famous for the supply chain related systems
that have been employed by them. The organization was the first in the entire industry to
introduce the system of configure-to-order or CTO model. This allowed the organization to
offer products to the customers according to their needs. The company was also able to
manufacture and offer products faster as compared to the competitors in the market (Beske,
Land and Seuring 2014). This unique model of the business has helped the company in
estimating the requirements of the customers, forecasting the demands and providing PCS
which are low-cost in nature.
Dell has further introduced the new concept of “Smart Selection” which is based on
the build-to-order or BTO model. This model enables the organization to provide wide
variety of products to the customers. The implementation of this model further changes the
entire supply chain scenario of the organization. The process of direct customer sales has
helped Dell in increasing their wealth of customer intelligence. The company has also been
able to gain competitive advantage in the market with the help of their close customer
relationships (Carter, Rogers and Choi 2015). The close relationships with the customers with
the help if direct sales by the organization also helps in increasing loyal customer base of
Dell.